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).

Kadgi-Chana Ghasshi

Chana Ghasshi is a very popular konkani dish. (I'd like to think so!!) The dish uses the small black chickpeas which are soaked overnight and cooked. I have eaten this version made at home countless times. I have also eaten Kadgye Ghasshi made from raw jackfruit somewhere. I decided to combine the two and make this. It was finger-licking good. I made it a little dry and thick to go with rotis and then diluted it a little at night to have it my favourite way. With rice, dali saar and batata talasani (potato matchsticks curry!)

Ingredients:

250g Raw Jackfruit, cut and cooked
1/2 cup Black Chickpeas (Kala Chana/ Konda Kadalai), soaked overnight and cooked
2 tbsp Scraped Coconut
3-4 Red Chillies
1 tsp Black Gram Dal (Urad Dal)
1 1/2 tsp Coriander Seeds
1/4 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
1 tbsp Tamarind Paste (Add more or less to taste)
Salt to taste
1 tsp Oil

For the 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, black gram dal, coriander seeds and fenugreek seeds. Grind this together with the tamarind paste and coconut. Add a handful of cooked chickpeas to this and grind to a paste.

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

In a frying ladle, heat the oil, add the mustard seeds and asafoetida, and when the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves. Add this to the ghasshi and serve hot with rice and dali saar.

Since the JFI this month is about Tamarind and the AFAM this month is about Coconut. I think I'll have a rerun of the RCI Karnataka on my blog this month. All my konkani food recipes shall be out again this June. Off this goes to the two ladies for the "must participate" events.

Raw Jackfruit Curry

I have always liked raw jackfruit a lot more than the ripe one. So when someone goes gaga over ripe jackfruit, as they did at the JFI last May, I cannot relate to that feeling at all. I also prefer breadfruit to jackfruit. Both were not easily available when I was growing up. Yet, I managed to rank them in my order of preferences. It was not like there was ever a situation when I had to pick one over the other. No, I’ve never been asked, “Would you like this or that?” Outside of the fritters, that always manage to make me go weak in my knees, I have not attempted making anything with jackfruit or breadfruit. I have eaten sukke, an amchi dish, but that’s it. I remember having eaten other dishes, but I am unable to recall them. Chips made out of raw jackfruit, I eat regularly. My colleague recently brought back a big bag from Kerala and we devoured them.

I have this lady in my team: D. She HATES cooking and on days when her cook doesn’t turn up, she’s really one big mess. But I find her lunch the best on days when her cook doesn’t turn up. That’s because D is a wonderful cook. I always tell her, “If this is how you cook when you HATE cooking, I wonder how you’d cook if you actually loved it.” She brought this dish in her lunch box a couple of times last month and I was tempted to try. Since raw jackfruit is sold precut, she finds it easy to prepare. I took the ease to a different level altogether by making it in a pressure cooker. I also added asafoetida to the preparation because I didn’t want to fly back to Gurgaon after work on my own. I’m not too sure of my landing skills yet.


250g Raw Jackfruit pieces
2 Onions, sliced
1 Tomato, chopped
¼ tsp Ginger Paste
¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tbsp Oil
¼ tsp Asafoetida
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
Salt to taste



Heat oil in a pressure pan and add the cumin seeds. When they crackle, add the asafoetida and the onions and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and ginger paste. Fry the entire mixture for 2-3 minutes. Add the raw jackfruit pieces and the salt and fry for another 2-3 minutes. Add a little water and pressure cook for 1 whistle. When done, add the garam masala and cook for a minute before serving.



This pairs very well with rotis and I know I’m going to make this very often. One more of the tasty and quick recipes, so hard to resist. And with this post, I have reached a mini milestone on this blog. This is my 250th post.

On Day 3 of the Recipe Marathon, these recipes have been put up:

Srivalli: Majjiga Mirapakaya/Dahi Mirchi

Ranji: A Blueberry Muffin

Lakshmi: Onion Kulchas

Dhivya: Spicy Rotis

Arundathi: Grape Jam

Swati: stuffed bell pepper with makhani gravy

Divya: Sour Cream Corn Cranberry Muffins

Bhags: Vegetable stock

Siri: Middle Eastern Appetizer