Mudhi Muaa

My mom never fails to amaze me. Whenever I call her regarding a recipe, she has all the answers to my questions. Even when I am least expecting it. Agreed that she does not make Chinese or Italian, but Indian cooking is her forte. She is the kind who had her basics very strong and I believe that such people hardly take any time to adapt to any kind of cuisine. Wish I had learnt more Odiya recipe from her during my school/college days.

Yesterday when I was feeling a bit down, I was reminded of my childhood days which would never be the same without stuff like arissa pitha, gajaa, nimika, muduku and various types of muaa. Since I had the basics in stock, I decided to prepare some mudhi muaa for myself. While I had seen her preparing 'Muaa' a long time back, I did not remember the steps. So I called her and asked "How many cups 'Mudhi' for 1 cup 'guda'? . As expected, she replied 'seita tote kemiti kahibi. Andaziya kari ne'. Huuh, these ladies are some experts. They use their eyes and hands as some kinda weighing machine while I am totally lost without my measuring spoons and cups. Somehow we decided that 1 part jaggery would be fine for 5-6 parts puffed rice and hence I set about the cooking. By force of habit, I ended up making modifications to the original recipe and used a few other ingredients keeping the sensibilities of my toddler and his friends in mind ( you know how most kids are these days ). Turned out to be easy given her tips and made a nice batch of muaas which are going to get over very soon. Maybe even before this post goes live.

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 15-20 mins


Ingredients -

1 cup jaggery ( I used the Patanjali Madhuran Natural Sugar )
6 cups mudhi/puffed rice
1 fistful of peanuts (dry roasted)
1 fistful of char magaj ( chiroli /chironji) (dry roasted)
2-3 tsp ghee
2-3 tbsp finely chopped walnuts ( my addition )
a fistful of raisins ( my addition )
2 tbsp grated chocolate ( my addition )
a pinch of nutmeg ( my addition )


Cooking - Heat the jaggery with 1/3 cup water in a wok. It will melt and then start to foam/bubble. Gradually ( arnd 3-4 mins) the bubbles will get smaller and now it is time to test for the right consistency of the jaggery. If it gets over-cooked then the puffed rice will not bind together.

Take a large bowl with cold water in it. Put a single drop of the jaggery into it. If it dissolves into the water, it needs to be cooked for longer time. Keep repeating this test at intervals  of 1 minute.

Add the puffed rice and mix thoroughly to uniformly coat the puffed rice. Remove from the flame at this stage. Immediately add the peanuts, char magaj, walnuts, raisins, grated chocolate and nutmeg. Mix in.

Keep aside for 2-3 mins.

Rub ghee on your hands and take a fistful of the mixture. Mold into a ball . Repeat for the remaining mixture.

Keep aside to cool down for 1-2 hours. One can then store them in an airtight tin for almost a month.

Atta Nimiki (Whole wheat namkeen)

School vacations were such carefree days. Growing up in a small town untouched by materialism had its own benefits. One did not have to worry about taking a loan to party everyday. The neighbourhood gupchup-wallah, chat-wallah and chowmein stalls were our perennial hangouts. Even a coke was quite rare those days and was mostly served to the baraatis (bride-groom's guests). An occasional ice-cream seemed heavenly even though Kwality-Walls and Dinshaws were the only brands available.

With wide open spaces, parks and very less traffic on the roads, most of the day was spent having fun outdoors. Whatever little time was spent being indoors, it was considered snacking time. With all the physical activity going on, we would be hungry even after breakfast/lunch/dinner. With no calories being counted (How i miss those blissful days !!),fried stuff like Nimiki, Murukku, Karanji and Gajja were consumed by the kilos (Yes, you read it right so don't pinch urself). Most people would prepare such stuff by the kilos and keep it in large tins for days ( even months ). My grandmother and mother were no exception to this rule. No outside snacks were entertained on a daily basis. While most of the work was done by them, I pitched in my two cents of effort everytime. I guess those days installed the passion for cooking in me ( who is otherwise an outdoor person ).


This recipe is a trip down memory lane. I am doing this post in remembrance of my grandmother who even though severely hindered by arthritis, was a great cook. She made the best Arissa pitha and Maccha Patua I have ever had. And she hated everything refined. She used to call it fake or duplicate. She insisted on using whole wheat and jaggery ( instead of Maida and sugar )in most of the preparations. Hence we were brought up liking the 'Atta Nimiki' instead of the regular Maida Nimiki that everyone patronizes. Read on for the recipe:

Preparation time - 30-35 mins

Ingredients - 2 cups whole wheat flour (Atta), 1/2 cup oil, 1/2 tsp kala jeera, salt to taste, water to make a stiff dough, oil for deep frying.

Preparation - Take the flour in a wide vessel. Drizzle warm oil and salt.  Rub between fingers for 4-5 minutes. The amount of oil used should be such that if a fistful of flour is taken and held in the hand for a few seconds, it should retain its shape (somewhat). At this point mixture will start to look crumbly like bread crumbs.

Add just enough water to knead into a stiff dough. Allow to stand covered for 1 hour.

Cooking: Heat oil of deep frying in a wok.

Pinch some of the dough, make a ball out of it and roll into a thick circle. Cut the circle into small pieces and add one piece to the hot oil. If oil is hot enough, it will immediately rise to the top without turning dark. If it sinks, oil needs to be hotter and if it turns dark very soon, oil is over-heated.

Fry a handful of the pieces in a single batch, turning at regular intervals for even cooking. Remove and keep aside when done.

Repeat with the remaining dough. Allow to cool down completely, transfer and store in an airtight container. (The nimikis tend to turn crispier as they cool down .)

Munch on a few as and when you wish.

Dahi Gupchup

These days i feel like i belong to an endangered species, one of the last custodians of 'tehzeeb' or courtesy. The next generation with their 'grab-it-all' attitude no longer have the time or inclination for such niceties. Well I maybe exaggerating but i do feel that we all are being sucked up into a big 'black hole' of materialism with the media playing the role of a very tantalizing devil in thin disguise. Our wants have become all consuming living little scope for old world romanticism or even practicality.

The Dominoes and MacD's of the West have influenced our food preferences to such an extent that we no longer crave for the comfort element associated with local food which is more suited to our climate and economy. The Western food palate with its Meat & Cheese staple is essential for providing energy and heat in the cold climate while our dal-chawal or dal-roti is supposed to satiate us without the excess body heat. Nothing satiates me more than a Dahi-pakhala or arwa bahta-dalma but i inadvertently get drawn to the 'Buy 1 get 1 Wednesdays' Dominoes offer beamed on the telly. I guess i have to banish the TV to stop myself from ordering those luscious looking pizzas. Now thats' a tall order so instead i have taken a resolution to forgo any western ingredients and go back to my roots this week ( just one week at a time ).

Today i will be sharing this 'Dahi Gupchup' recipe which I used to have during my childhood years in Rourkela. There used to this obscure little thela 'cart' in front of Deepak talkies near Ambagan which sold the yummiest version of the street snack. No idea if the younger lot still frequents this place but i havn't visited it for years.(See what i was talking earlier, even i am not immune to such influences) Hence i am doing this based only on my memory and without any inputs from the guy himself. Read on:

Preparation time - 10 mins

Ingredients - 10 gupchup/puchka/puris, 2/3 cup fresh yogurt/curd, 1 tbs tamarind-dates-jaggery chutney ( u cn replace it with Imli Pichkoo ), 1 small boiled potato, 1 small onion chopped, chopped green chilli, 1 tsp sugar, salt to taste, jeera-lanka powder, kala luna (black salt), chat masala, roasted coriander powder, red chilli powder ( optional ), chopped coriander.

Preparation - Take the boiled potato in a mixing bowl. Mash it and add half of the onion, green chilli, jeera lanka powder , coriander powder and salt. Mix well.

Add a little water, salt and sugar to the yogurt and beat lightly. Dilute the tamarind-dates-jaggery/imli picchkoo with a little water.

Take the puris and arrange on a plate. Puncture the upper layer on the puris.

Put a little of the potato mixture into each one.

Pour the beaten yogurt over the puris, followed by the tamarind-dates-jaggery chutney. Sprinkle the jeera lanka powder, coriander powder, chat masala, red chilli powder kala luna and salt. Finally add the green chillis, coriander leaves and chopped onions. ( Add a little shev but its optional )

Serve immediately as the puris tend to get soggy very fast.

Biri Chop ( Urad dal bonda )

Preparation time: 30-40 mins

Ingredients:
For the outer layer - 1 small cup chopa chada biri ( dehusked black lentil ), 2-3 tsp semolina, 5-6 crushed peppercorns, a pinch of baking powder, chopped green chillis, salt to taste, oil for deep frying.

For the stuffing - 2-3 medium sized potatoes ( boiled and peeled ), 1 tsp grated garlic, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 medium sized onion ( finely chopped ), mustard and cumin seeds for tempering, 1/2 tsp chilli powder, 1/5 tsp turmeric, 2-3 tsp chopped coriander leaves, fried peanuts/boiled yellow peas/green peas, 2-3 tbs chopped coconut pieces, 3-4 tsp oil, salt to taste.

Preparation: Wash and soak the biri for 3-4 hours. Grind into a smooth thick paste in a mixer/grinder and keep aside for 3-4 hours to allow fermentation.

Just before frying, add the remaining ingredients to the batter and mix well. Add water if required to get the correct consistency. On dipping the balls, the batter should form a layer of 1-2 mm thickness.

Cooking: Heat 3-4 tsp oil in a wok. Add mustard-cumin seeds when the oil starts smoking. Follow with chopped onion and the grated ginger and garlic. Fry for 4-5 mins till the raw smell goes away.

Add the mashed potato along with chilli powder, salt and turmeric. Fry for 2-3 mins. Now add the fried peanuts/boiled peas, coconut pieces and chopped coriander. Fry for 1-2 mins. Remove from heat and keep aside till it is bearable to touch.

Make small balls out of the above.

Heat another deep vessel/wok with sufficient oil for deep frying. When the oil just starts to smoke, lower the heat.

Dip the potato balls in the batter and add to the wok few at a time. Fry on all sides to a medium brown colour.

Serve hot with ghuguni/chutney/ketchup.