Indian kitchens must have ‘besan’

‘Besan’ is the powdered form of the chana dal (gram or chickpea) and is an inseparable part of any Indian kitchen right from Kashmir to Kalaikunda – Indians just cannot think of a world minus besan because, with its help, the cook can create wonder recipes.
Besan is usually made use of by mixing with water to make a batter in which vegetables or fish are dipped and deep fried. The end product is generally known as pakoras – and the vegetable can be practically any veggie that can be fried. Examples onions, potatoes, cauliflower, brinjal, green chillies etcetera.
However, another area where besan is extensively used is in making sweets. And – in order to make these sweets, experts are required, conveying the powder into tiny globules of different sizes to create delicious sweets is the work of an artist, an artist who knows just how much he can extract from his ingredients.

The common factor is the batter of besan in water and, these are converted into tiny globules by passing through a sieve which has holes punched in it. The sieve is selected based on what is being prepared.
If it is to be boondi meant for taking with raita or chat, there would be salt added. Else, if it would be for a laddoo which is sweet, some color (orange or yellow) would be added to the batter and that would be passed through a sieve. The besan would then get converted into millions of tiny crisp droplets which would be fried in ghee and dumped into sugar syrup. The droplets would be removed with the syrup sticking to its sides and then left to dry. Once the dryness is manageable, kish-mish, chopped cashew nuts, pistachios etcetera are added as garnish and then, the laddoos are formed by hand.
This is the general method of preparing laddoos of besan in places other than in Bengal.
However, in Bengal, the boondi laddoos are known as ‘darbesh’ – the process is similar as above – only, the droplets are of different colors like red, orange, green.
And, on top of the list is the mihidana – or ‘fine droplets’. Yes, the size of the boondis are very small and the sieve has smaller size holes punched. Moreover, the color added to the batter is deep orange and it is fried in ghee. This mihidana is a unique sweet of Burdwan. (to be continued …)

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The world of pakoras and wadas in Nashik

Once in Nashik, I was forced to get used to snacks that were totally different to what I had been used to in my days in Kolkata and Kanpur. In fact, I had to reset my taste buds and learn to appreciate different variations of fried stuffs like the pakoras. To me pakoras were concoctions of vegetables that were dipped in a batter of besan and deep fried. The vegetables that lent themselves to being transformed into delicious mouthwatering snacks were could be slices of potatoes, brinjal, or finely cut onions, or cauliflowers. The first three had many takers in Kolkata while the fourth one was a rage in Kanpur.
Anyway, in Nashik, I came cross other varieties like the sabudana and fries made out of pulses. Here the generic name for all such fries was wada – therefore batata wada meant a fry where the potato was the main ingredient. Potato in Marathi was batata. Similarly, there was the sabudana wada and the urad dal wada.
Incidentally, the sabudana wada and its khichdi version were meant usually for the days of fast. Yes, the local Marathi people observe fast on certain days of the week and on these days, the eating joints would serve these snacks.
Of course, I cannot forget the bread pakora – it was nothing but slices of bread dipped in the batter of besan and deep fried. The frying would not be uniform – some would be over fired making it more like biscuit. Others would be under fired – the end product would be soggy.
It was most unfortunate that the culture of rolls (egg roll, chicken roll, mutton roll), which is the delight of Bengalis, had not invaded the kitchens of Nashik. Neither did the north Indian culture of chats and golgappas . The nearest to chats was the bhelpuri – a sort of mixture that was popular in Mumbai. It was similar to jhalmuri of Bengal where fluffed rice would be mixed with a number of unique ingredients and a dash of mustard oil and served in paper cones or packets.
But, alas, the vegetable chops, mutton cutlets, kabiraji cutlets, fish fries and other fast food delicacies unique to Bengal were nowhere to be seen. (to be continued …)