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Friday, June 27, 2014

Nadia Bara Tarkari (Coconut-Lentil Dumping Curry)

A rich curry made with coconut and gram dal dumplings, it is one among those lesser known gastronomic delights of Odisha. While the crisp dumpling is more commonly eaten all by itself and is quite tasty, the extra usually goes into the making of a curry. The curry can be one with a thin red gravy (pania jholo) or a thick white one. The latter uses a paste of cashew and poppy seeds/watermelon seeds and some sugar too. While the thin version goes great with white rice, the thicker one complements rotis/parathas rather well.

Read on for the recipe -





Preparation Time - 45 mins

Ingredients-

For the dumplings -


  • 1 cup chopped/sliced coconut (fresh)
  • 1 cup gram/chana dal ( soaked for 3-4 hours, washed and drained )
  • 1 inch grated ginger
  • 1/3 tsp chili powder
  • 2 tbsp chopped coriander
  • a pinch of baking powder
  • 1/2-1 tsp cornflour (binding purpose)
  • salt to taste
  • oil for deep frying 

For the curry -

  • 1 medium sized onion  
  • 1 large sized tomato 
  • 1 large boiled potato
  • 3-4 nos garlic flakes
  • 1 1/2 inch long ginger 
  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds 
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • 2 nos dry red chillis
  • 2-3 nos cardamom
  • 1-2 nos  bay leaves 
  • 2-3 nos cloves 
  • 1 inch long cinnamon  
  • 2 tbsp broken cashews
  • 2 tbsp watermelon seeds
  • turmeric
  • 1-2 tsp sugar 
  • salt
  • 3 tbsp for cooking curry


Preparation: Grind the coconut and gram dal using into a very coarse paste. Add the remaining ingredients except oil and mix together.

Peel and chop the potato into large chunks.

Dry roast the cumin seeds ,coriander seeds, whole red chillis, cardamon, cinnamon, and cloves.

Grind the all the whole spices without adding any water . This should form a fine powder. Then add the chopped onion, ginger and garlic flakes along with very little water and grind into a smooth paste.

Soak the cashew and watermelon seeds for 1-2 hours. Grind into a smooth paste using little water.

Cooking: Heat oil in a wok for deep fying.

Pinch small portions of the coconut and dal mixture. Shape them into balls and then flatten them. Slide 4-5 such dumplings into the hot oil per batch.

Fry on medium heat till it has browned on both sides and the center is also cooked. Remove and keep aside. Repeat for the remaining mixture.

One can also use the same wok for preparing the curry. Remove the excess oil from the wok. Add the potato pieces along with a pinch of turmeric. Fry for 1-2 mins, remove from wok and keep aside.

Add the bay leaves followed by the masala paste and turmeric, and stir fry for 4-5 mins or till the raw smell goes away. Add the finely chopped/pureed tomato and cook till oil starts to separate oil. Add fried potatoes and stir fry for 2 mins.

Add 2-3 cups of water along with a little amount of salt. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for 5-6 mins.

Add the cashew-watermelon paste along with the sugar and simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Add the dumplings and simmer for another 5-6 mins or till the dumpling soften. Do not stir vigorously so they might break. ( They will absorb the gravy if covered and kept aside for another 10 mins )

Serve with rice/roti.



5 comments:

  1. mmmm… sounds great. But 45 minutes prep time is too long for any recipe I would even think of attempting. Happy to eat though :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kalpana, frying the vadas itself took a lot of time in my case as I used a small wok. Did it in 4 lots. So, if you can cut down on the quantity/use a large wok that would save you a lot of time!!

      Delete
  2. My mouth is just watering here, this tarkari tempts me a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the recipe. I was waiting. I had forgotten this tarkari as i did not not get to hear of it since long. I wanted my punjabi husband to taste this..

    ReplyDelete
  4. very nice ...I would like to know the pania jholo recipe ..please

    ReplyDelete

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