Kadgi Tori Ghasshi

Of late, Amma doesn't seem to cook that many amchi dishes. I figured this was because she only has to cook for two people. Appa has very limited tolerance for spices. What's amchi cooking without the fiery heat of bedgi chillies. Moreover, Appa seems to like typical Iyengar food and stuff like Italian and Chinese. It is not that he won't eat the other stuff, these would be his preference.

So I am not partial to either of them. One morning, I decided to cook some amchi food. Of the four members in the house at this point, three love this cuisine. So, whyever not? I had asked Amma to bring some more Pigeon Peas (Tori) from Bombay. When I get fresh stock of things I don't get in Delhi/Gurgaon, I am tempted to use them right away.

250g Raw Jackfruit, cut and cooked

1/2 cup Pigeon Peas (Tori/Tuvar), soaked overnight and cooked

2 tbsp Scraped Coconut

3-4 Red Chillies

1 1/2 tsp Coriander Seeds

1 tbsp Tamarind Paste (Add more or less to taste)

Salt to taste

1 tsp Oil

For the tempering:

1 tsp Oil

2-3 Garlic Pods, crushed

For a no onion/garlic version, use this tempering:

1 tsp Oil

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

7-8 Curry Leaves

Heat the oil in a small kadhai and fry the chillies and coriander seeds. Grind this together with the tamarind paste and coconut. Add a handful of cooked pigeon peas to this and grind to a paste.

In a vessel, combine the cooked pigeon peas, jackfruit, the paste and salt. Add some water to this and bring to a boil.

In a frying ladle, heat the oil, add the garlic pods. If using the other tempering, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds and asafoetida, and when the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves. Add the tempering to the ghasshi and serve hot.

P.S.: Amchi is an abbreviation for "amchigele" which is how konkani people refer to the language (and other people who speak the language).