Beyond the menu: Common ingredients, uncommon recipes

Editor’s note: How often have you seen the esoteric recipes from your community served at restaurants or celebrated on cooking blogs? Using commonly available ingredients, some of these fabled recipes never make it to dine out menus or your favourite YouTuber’s page. Pushpesh Pant’s book ‘Lazzatnama: Recipes of India’ spotlights exactly these types of dishes— and we present four of these wholesome recipes from the fringes of the subcontinent. The best part: You’ll find everything you need at your local mandi. Excerpted with permission from Rupa Publications. 

Tchok Wangen (Tangy brinjals) 

Origin: Kashmir

Preparation time: 15 minutes 

Cooking time: 15 minutes 

Serves: 6

Ingredients

1 kg Brinjal (long) 

2 cups Mustard oil 

2 Clove

3 tsp Red chilli powder 

1 tsp Dried ginger powder 

2 tsp Fennel powder

1 tsp Ver masala (optional) 

1/2 cup Tamarind water 

5 Green chilli

4 cups Water

Salt to taste

Method

• Wash the brinjals and cut them into long slices.
• Heat mustard oil in a deep-frying pan and lightly fry the brinjals, then take them out of the pan.
• In a separate pan, heat 2 tbsp oil. Add cloves, salt, red chilli powder and 4 cups of water. Add the rest of the spices and tamarind water, and bring the mixture to boil.
• Add the fried brinjals and cook on high heat for 5 minutes. 
• Garnish with green chillies and serve hot.

Kanguchhi Pulao (Morel rice)

Origin: Kashmir

Preparation time: 30 minutes 

Cooking time: 30 minutes 

Serves: 4–6

Ingredients 

100g Kanguchhi mushrooms (wild black mushrooms from Kashmir)

1 and 1/2 cups of rice, washed and soaked

5 tbsp ghee

4 cloves

4 black cardamoms, crushed

6 green cardamoms

2-inch cinnamon stick 

3 bay leaves

75 g almonds, blanched

A pinch asafoetida

5 cups water

1 tsp ginger powder

A generous pinch saffron

1 tsp Garam Masala

Salt to taste 

Method

• Slit the mushrooms lengthwise and wash well to remove all grit.
• Heat ghee in a heavy-based pot. Add cloves, black and green cardamoms, a cinnamon stick, bay leaves and almonds. Stir for a few seconds till the whole spices change colour, then add the mushrooms.
• Add asafoetida and salt. Stir-fry for 1 minute and then add the drained rice. Stir gently and add 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add ginger powder.
• Mix saffron in 2 tsp of hot water and crush with the back of a spoon. Add to the rice and cook covered for 15 minutes. 
• When the water is almost absorbed, transfer the pot over a preheated pan and let it simmer over a low flame. Cook covered till the rice is done. 
• Sprinkle garam masala before serving.

Xoriyah diya Masor Tenga (Assamese fish curry with mustard)

Origin: Assam

Preparation time: 30 minutes 

Cooking time: 15–17 minutes 

Serves: 2

Ingredients 

500 g fish (rohu or rawas), cleaned and cut into darnes (a thick section cut from a substantial fish)

1⁄2 tsp or 1 tbsp mustard seeds, ground to paste 

1 tbsp turmeric Powder

1/4 cup mustard oil

6 tomatoes (medium), finely chopped

1 potato (medium), boiled, peeled and mashed

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp lime juice

2 green chillies, slit lengthwise

1 large sprig of fresh coriander leaves

Method

• Wash the fish well and pat dry. Marinate it with a pinch each of salt and turmeric powder for about 10 minutes. 
• Heat 2 tbsp of mustard oil in a non-stick frying pan and lightly fry the fish for about 2 minutes on each side, taking care not to break it. Remove from the pan with a slotted
• spoon and keep aside on paper towels to drain excess oil. 
• Put a pan on moderate flame and add 1 tbsp of mustard oil. When the oil reaches smoking point, put in the mustard seeds.
• When the seeds start spluttering, add chopped tomatoes and mashed potatoes. Add the remaining turmeric powder and salt, stirring continuously. Fry the mixture for about 10 minutes or till the moisture evaporates.
• Pour in 2 cups of water, stir once and bring to a boil. Gently add the fried fish pieces.
• Add sugar to the mustard paste and add it to the curry. 
• Sprinkle in the lime juice, stir and let it boil for about another minute. Remove from heat, garnish with green chillies and coriander leaves, and serve hot.

Parwal ki Mithai (Pointed gourd sweet)

Origin: Banaras

Preparation time: 3 hours 15 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes, plus cooling and chilling time 

Serves: 12–16

Ingredients 

1 kg pointed gourd

4 and 1/4 cups milk

1/2 lime juice

1 cup caster sugar

1 tsp rose water

10 almonds, blanched and finely chopped

4 tbsp pistachios (unsalted), blanched and finely chopped

300 g Chhena or paneer grated or crumbled

2 tbsp sugar candy, crushed

8 green cardamom pods, crushed

A pinch saffron, crushed

Method

• Put the pointed gourd into a large pan of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Drain and allow it to cool.
• Make a slit along one side of each pointed gourd, deseed and remove the pulp.
• Pour 2 cups of water into a large, heavy-based pan. Add half the sugar and heat gently, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium and cook for 2 minutes.
• Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the rose water. Soak the pointed gourds in this solution for 3–4 hours. 
• Transfer the paneer and the remaining sugar to a blender
• and process to make a paste. Transfer the paste into a bowl and mix in the crushed sugar candy. Add chopped nuts and crushed green cardamom.
• Remove the pointed gourds from the sugar syrup and stuff them with the paneer filling. Sprinkle a little crushed saffron on top.
• Allow it to chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and serve.