Fusion food, whether it is choosing one dish from North India and combining it with a popular dish from East India, or it is fusing two dishes into one: either way, the result almost always is lip-smacking
My comfort zone food over the last few years has been fusion food and many of you will wonder why. I have various reasons to support my thoughts. Fusion food, whether it is choosing one dish from North India and combining it with a popular dish from East India, or it is fusing two dishes into one: either way, the result almost always is lip-smacking. Another reason for believing in fusion food is you get to taste the best dishes of every region – unity in diversity, to say the least. And lastly, I like my imagination to go astray when planning a meal. It gives your meal the creative angle and the result is: an array of taste which satisfies all your senses.
My fusion thali this time consists of the all popular North Indian ‘dahi ki kadhi with pakoras’ with the comfort food of Eastern India – ‘alu bhatey’ with a few slices of sweet mangoes. The lunch turned out to be light on the stomach and a delight on a rainy afternoon.
Dahi ki kadhi with pakoras
2 cups of sour curd
3 tbps of besan – gram flour
3 tbps of ghee
Half tsp of fenugreek seeds – methi seeds
1 tsp or more of red chilly powder
1 tsp of turmeric powder – haldi
Few figs of curry leaves
Quarter tsp of asefoetida – hing powder
Salt to taste
For the pakoras
1 cup of gram flour – besan
Salt to taste
3-4 pinches of red chilly powder
2 pinches of baking soda
Oil for deep frying
To make the pakoras
Sift together the besan, salt, red chilly powder and mix well. Add just enough water to form a thick dough. Mix in the baking powder and mix with your fingers to ensure you get a smooth fluffy batter. Heat oil for deep frying in a thick bottomed kadahi and drop spoonfuls of the batter to fry pakoras. Keep beating the batter with your fingers so that you get soft pakoras. Fry all the pakoras and keep aside.
Remove all the oil from the pan/kadhai and dry roast the besan till a golden brown. You need to have your flame on very low. Once the besan is a golden brown, add the spices and the curry leaves an stir fry for 1 minute more. Keeping the flame on low, slowly mix in atleast 400 ml of lukewarm water. Water must be added little by little so that no lumps form . Keep stirring the besan mixture as you add water little by little. You should have a ‘kadhi’ consistency with no lumps. Stir well and continue to cook on low flame, stirring every 3-4 minutes. Cook and stir on low fire for at least 45 minutes. Cook and stir till the desired thickness of the kadhi is reached. Mix in the pakoras and serve.
Alu bhatey
5-6 medium sized potates – boiled and mashed
Salt to taste
4-5 tbsps of mustard oil
2 tsps of panch phoran masala (the five spice mix such as fennel seeds, black mustard, nigella seeds, golden fenugreek and cumin seeds. You can use them to create a dry vegetable sabzi or even in curries to create your main dish).
3-4 dried red chillies
Mix the salt in the mashed potatoes and keep aside in a serving dish. Take a small frying pan – heat the oil and add the panch phoran and red chillies and allow to splutter for 30-40 seconds. Remove from fire and mix into the mashed potatoes. Mix well. Divide into portions and give each portion a round shape.
Serve with plain rice, 2 green chillies, few pieces of lime and a few slices of sweet mangoes.
