Bhatt ki cuhdkani (भट्ट की चुड़कानी /Kumaoni savory of Black Turtle Beans)

 चुड़कानी भात चुआ का साग 

Black Turtle Beans are known in India by many names. In Uttarakhand it is called Bhatt. It is very rich source of Vutamins B6, B12, Folates, Omega 3, Omega 6, many minerals and micronutrients. Being rich in Proteins and low on carbs and fats it helps alleviate type 2 diabetes. It is also very good for heart patients and high fiber content helps in digestion. 

Bhatt in Uttarakhand is used to make Bhatt ka Jaulaa, Bhatt ke Dubke, Ras-Gude Chudkani and dry roasted to be eaten as snack. 

Chudkani is a thick dal / soup made by roasting Bhatt and then cooking. 

Recipe follows. 

Nutritional value of Chudkani made from 100 gm black beans  (approx.) 

Energy : 210 calories 

Proteins : 11.74 gm

Carbs : 25.7gm

Dietary fibers : 9.1 gm

Fats : 1.0 gm

Cholesterol : 0 

Sugar : 0.37 gm

Sodium : 470 mg 

Potassium : 377 mg 

Iron: 2.10 mg

Calcium : 27 mg 

Magnesium : 70 mg 

Phosphorus : 140 mg

Zinc : 1.2mg

Rich in Vitamins :

A

B1

B2

B3

B6

Preparation Time : 5 minutes max 

Cooking Time : 30 to 40 minutes 

Servings : 5 Medium size servings

Ingredients Required For Making Bhatt ka Chudkani (Thick soup of Black Turtle Beans) :

Few ingredients of Chudkani 

• Black Turtle Beans : 100 gm. 
• Rice flour : 4Tespoons 
• Cumin seeds : 1 Teaspoon 
• Dry Red Chilli : 2 
• Asafoetida : 1/4th Teaspoon 
• Turmeric: 1/4th Teaspoon 
• Red Chili Powder : 1/2 Teaspoon (optional) 
• Salt: 2 Teaspoons or to taste 
• Ghee / clarified butter /cooking oil : 1 Teaspoon 
• Wate

Directions For Making Bhatt ka Chudkani:

• Wash Bhatt (black turtle beans) nicely and pat dry them with a kitchen towel /clean cloth. Keep aside. 
• Break red chilies into and remove all seeds. 
• In an iron wok take ghee (clarified butter) and heat on high heat. 
• Once the ghee is hot bring the heat to low and into the hot ghee put washed pat dried Bhatt (black turtle beans). 
• Bring the heat to medium and with constant stirring. After 3-4 minutes the seeds will start sputtering and slowly they will change color and beautiful roasting smell will start coming. 
• It will take max 5 minutes for Bhatt to get roasted. Remove them when they become too dark. Once out of hot wok they will keep cooking due to heat in them. 

Ghee Roasted Bhatt 

• In the hot ghee add cumin seeds, once the seeds splutter add chilli pieces and asafoetida. 
• Cook for 30 sec. The chilli pieces will change color and nice aroma of cumin, chilies, asafoetida will come from wok.

Cumin, red chili hing in hot ghee 

• Add rice flour and cook with continuous stirring till rice flour becomes golden brown. 

Rice flour roasted 

• Add roasted black turtle beans and mix nicely.

Roasted Bhatt added 

• Add

1. Turmeric 
2. Red chili powder 
3. and salt. Give a nice mix. 

Masala added 

• Add 250 ml. water and bring the heat to high. Keep cooking on high heat with constant stirring till water starts boiling. 

Water added and cooking on low flame 

• Bring the heat to low and keep cooking with stirring occasionally. 
• The material in the wok will start thickening. 

• Keep adding 100 ml. water as required (normally every ten minutes). Keep cooking on low heat. 
• Bhatt (black turtle beans) will start swelling in size in the process of cooking and will become tender. 

After 10 minutes 

• It will take atleast 25 to 30 minutes more for the Bhatt to cook nicely. 

Chudkani is ready 

• Add water according the consistency you desire.
• Adjust seasoning. 
• Add one teaspoon of ghee. Give a boil and switch off the heat. Cover the wok. 
• Let ghee flavor seep into Chudkani nicely for 5 minutes. 
• Take out hot Chudkani in serving bowl. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

Chudkani and Saag 

• Serve delicious Uttarakhandi Bhatt ka Chudkani with hot steaming rice and any leafy vegetable. I prefer with green Amaranth( चु/चुआ /चवली चे पान) sabzi. 

Chudkani Rice and Chu saag 

• This thick soup of black turtle beans is actually a meal by itself.

Tips: 

• After washing Bhatt they should not be soaked it water. Pat dry them to reduce the surface moisture. Else they will not splutter. 
• While roasting washed Bhatt in ghee make sure they are roasted in medium heat. With continuous stirring to ensure 

1. Even roasting
2. Not burning off Bhatt 

• Once nice nutty roasted aroma starts coming from roasted Bhatt and they start turning brownish remove from heat. Cooking keeps on taking place once away from heat due to jot oil in the. 
• Do not add lots of water at one go, keep adding in small portion. 
• If in hurry once Bhatt chudkani is cooked for 10 minutes transfer it from wok to pressure cooker and cook till it gives one whistle (roughly 10 minutes). 

Suggested Variations:

• In the absence of iron wok, cast iron wok or any other thick bottom container can be used. But best taste comes when cooked in iron / cast iron container. 
• In the absence of rice flour, wheat flour can be used. 
• Though chudkani tastes best when cooked with ghee but mustard oil is second best choice. Rest your choice for oil you take for cooking. 

Lai -Ki-sabji/लाई की सब्ज़ी (Indian savory of Leafy Vegetable of Mustard family)

Lai I sabji

Lai is green leafy vegetable of mustard family grown in hills of Himalayan range. In summers it provides much needed warmth to the body. It is tangy and very tasty leafy vegetable. As Pahari people are very fond of potatoes so it is cooked with potatoes (I omit potatoes) or made with thick gravy with the milk of seeds called bhanga (Not to be confused with bhang). Bhanga is the seed of the plant called Hemp from which charas, ganja bhang is obtained but the seeds are used as condiment, which are not intoxicating and very delicious. Wild variety of the same plant does not provide edible seeds but only intoxicants. Thus is prohibited to grow in fields.. Even the cultivation of hemp is done in few places with govt. approval for much required seeds for the regular cooking in Kumaon hills.

In the absence of bhang groundnut milk is used which though does not give the same taste but is very delicious preparation. Our liking for this vegetable was so much that we used to get seeds from Kumaon and grow lai in our garden till we had an open space to grow vegetables. I could not take pic. of the leafs as I was impatient to cook this lovely vegetable.

Lai is rich in Iron, Vitamins and micro nutrients.

Preparation Time: 15 min

Cooking Time: 10-15 minutes

Servings: 4 Large servings

Ingredients Required For Making Lai-Ki-Sabji:

• 10-12 Large leafs of fresh Lai
• 2 Medium size potatoes(optional) 
• 10 ml. Mustard oil
• 1 Teaspoon Cumin seeds
• 2 Whole Red Chilies broken to pieces
• 1/4Teaspoon Hing (Asafoetida)
• 1/2Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
• Salt to taste

Directions For Making Lai-Ki-Sabji:

• Remove the tough stem from the base of leafs.
• Check for any infestation in the leafs if they are infested (Being a herb they grow near the soil this makes them prone to pest infestation), remove that part and clean them.
• Wash the leafs in lots of water to make sure they are absolutely clean.
• Cut leafs very fine, finer they are cut tastier is the cooked vegetable.

Finely cut Lai leafs

• Peel and wash the potatoes.
• Cut potatoes to small pieces.
• Heat oil in a thick bottom wok (I use iron wok).
• When the oil is smoking hot lower the flame and add
• Cumin seeds
• Broken whole red chilies
• Let the seeds splutter and chili pieces become dark red. Do not let them to become black.
• Add asafoetida and cook for 2-3 sec.

Tadka TEmparing ready)

• Add potatoes and mix nicely.
• Cover the wok and allow the potatoes to cook for 4-5 min. stirring 2-3 times.
• Add finely cut Lai and mix. If not using potatoes then add the ali to the tempering dierectly.

Finely cut Lai added to tadka

• Add
• Turmeric powder
• Salt

Salt and Turmeric added 

Mixed nicely to mix the oil and spices

• Mix nicely and cover. Allow the vegetable to cook on low flame till the potatoes and leafy vegetable becomes soft. It will take 10-12 minutes. Stir the vegetable every 2-3 minutes else the lower portion which is in contact with wok will get over cooked whereas the upper portion will not get cooked.

Covered and cooking

• The vegetable after cooking should not have any liquid but should not lose its moistness.

Ready for Serving

• Serve the delicious Lai-Ki-Sabji with Dal, Chawal, Chutney and Kumaoni-Kheere-Ka-Raita.

Lai I sabji

(http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2011/10/green-coriander-and-mint-chutney.html
 (http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.in/2012/07/pahari-kheere-ka-raita-cucumber-and.html

Enjoy staple Kumaoni food full of taste and nutrition.

Tips:

• Always clean leafy vegetable with utmost care and wash them two or three times.
• Break the whole red chili before adding else it will burst while cooking.
• Iron wok enhances the taste.
• Mustard oil is best but any other oil can be taken.
• Donot over cook. If the vegetable color becomes very dark this is indication of over cooking.
• To keep the color nice green of the cooked vegetable 1 teaspoon of lemon juice can be added to the vegetable when it is getting cooked.

Suggested variations:

• The preparation with potatoes tastes very nice so they can be added I have omitted it so that diabetic people can also enjoy this preparation.
• 10-15 gm. of ground nut can be made to paste then its milk can be taken out by adding 100 ml. water, and sieving. This milk can be added to the vegetable 2-3 min. before switching off the gas. After adding groundnut milk it should be cooked on high flame with constant stirring so that the vegetable thickens. Cook for 2-3 minutes and vegetable with groundnut milk is ready. (Coconut milk does not go well with it).
• Paste of green chili can be added if you like spicy food. Red chili powder changes the color a bit but can be added.
• Few leafs of spinach (Palak) can be added along with the lai leafs.

Happy healthy cooking and eating.

Patode/ Arbi ke Patte ki Vadi/ पतोड़े (Taro Leaf Spirals)

Patode with Red Chili Sauce

Patode are savories made from arbi ka patta and besan. Some prefer it deep fried but while deep frying the nutrients are lost and lots of fat and calories are added to it, so I prefer it shallow fried in minimum amount of oil. In Maharashtra it is known as Aloo chi Vadi.

Since it has green leaves thus it is rich in Iron and besan makes it rich in protein, so why spoil it by deep frying when better taste and nutrition can be gained by shallow frying.

Patode are very good starters / appetizers. They can also be used as side dish to main course.  Why I love making it? Because my family loves it and it is nutritious with no fat, very less calories. Should there be more reason for me to want to make Patode the moment I spot fresh green leaves of arbi ?

Preparation Time:10min.

Cooking Time: 40 min. 

Servings: 20-25 pieces.

 

Ingredients required

• 6 Fresh leaves of Arbi (Taro leaves)

Arbi ke Patte (Taro Leaves)

• 100gm. Besan ( horse gram powder)

Besan

• 1 Red Chili Powder

Red Chili Powder

• 1/2 tea spoon Turmeric powder
• 1 tea spoon Salt ( or to taste)
• 1 tea spoon Amchoor powder ( dried mango powder) 
• 1/2 tea spoon Garam masala powder 
1/2 Teaspoon Ajwain /Carrom seeds
• 1 tea spoon Olive oil or any cooking oil of your choice
• Water to make paste of  Besan and boil patode.

Directions to prepare Patode

• Wash and towel dry the Arbi leaves.
• Cut the stalk from the leaves. Keep the leavers with out stalks in a dry plate and stalks to be discarded.

Washed dried Arbi leaves with stalks removed

Stalks of Arbi leaves to be discarded

• Take besan in a bowl and add turmeric powder, Ajwain, salt, chili powder, garam masala and 2 tea spoon oil to it.

Spices and oil added to the besan

•  Add water slowly with continuous mixing till a smooth uniform paste is formed.

Paste of Besan and spices

• The paste should neither be too thick nor too thin . It should be of spreadable consistency.
• Take one leaf and keep the lower side of leaf facing up on a plate.

The side on which besan paste is to be applied

•  Put 3 tea spoon of paste on the leaf.

Paste on the lower side of the leaf

•  Spread the paste evenly on the leaf.

Besan paste spread on the lower side of the Arbi leaf

• Keep another Arbi leaf with the lower side of leaf facing up so that the besan paste is sandwiched between them.

Second leaf put on the leaf with besan 

• Apply 2 -3 tea spoons of besan paste on the second leaf.
• Start folding from upper pointed end of the leaf till you reach the base so that a roll of Arbi leaf with besan paste is formed.

Roll of Arbi leaf with Besan

• Fold the open ends carefully and closer with tooth picks.

Sides closed by tooth picks

• Repeat the same procedure with rest of the leaves and besan paste.
• Boil water in a broad mouthed container and cover it sieve.
• Place the rolls on the sieve and allow them to be steam cooked for 10 min all the time the gas should be on high flame. till they change the color and become hard.( the besan paste should become solid when cooked).

Patode rolls being steamed

• Turn over the rolls and steam them for another 10 min. ( the gas should be always on high flame)

Rolls being steamed after turning over

• Poke the steamed rolls with a tooth pick if it comes out clean it means rolls are cooked.

Checking with tooth pick

• The rolls will become firm after getting steamed cooked. 

Steamed cooked rolls

• Cool the rolls and cut them to 1/2 inches thickness.

Steamed cooked rolls cut to pieces

• Take a thick bottom flat plate (Tawa) / Pan and put 1/2tea spoon olive oil on it and heat on high flame. 

Tawa with olive oil being heated

• When the tawa is hot place the cut pieces of rolls on it and cook on medium flame till golden brown on one side.(approximately 10 min.)

Pieces of rolls being shallow fried on a nonstick tawa with minimum oil

• Turn them over and sprinkle 1 ml. oil and cook on medium flame till golden brown on the other side also.

Patode cooked to golden color on both sides

• Serve and eat hot Patode with Coriander-mint chutney / Red or green chili sauce / Hariyali chutney.

Patode with Red chili sauce

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.in/2011/09/red-and-green-chilly-sauce.html

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2011/10/green-coriander-and-mint-chutney.html

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2011/10/green-chilly-sauce.html

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2012/06/hariyali-chutney-raw-mango-chutney.html

Tips:

• Towel dry the leaves nicely.

•  Add water slowly to avoid the besan and spices paste from becoming thin.

• Use always non-stick pan this will reduce the use of oil.

• Olive oil is healthy medium to cook so use it

 Suggested Variations 

• The number of leaves can be increase the number of leaves can be increased depending upon the thickness of roll you prefer.
• Finely cut coriander leaves and green chilies can be added to the besan paste. This will change the flavor as well as increase the nutrition value of Patode because green chilies are rich in calcium and Vitamin C, and coriander leaves in Iron.