Satwik Ahaar

Happy Diwali!

It has been a while time since I wrote my last post( Raindrop even sent me a reminder- Thanks Raindrop, sometimes one needs a little nudge to get started again). The past one month has been interesting and I have sampled some amazing food. Sister's grilled tofu, funnel cake(Mousi it is quite like the Indian Jalebi is how my 15 year old niece put it), tandoori salmon( wonderful improvisation by sis), Mango Mousse, Malai Chingdi, Habisa( No, this is no exotic Meditteranean dish but an entirely Satwik one typically consumed during the month of November by people of Odissa).

My early memories of Habisa was at my Granny's place. Made every Monday which was a strictly vegetarian- no onion, no garlic day. Later even my Mother started making it on a regular basis. Habisa has a pure unadulterated taste. It does not use any spice and yet all the ingredients come together so beautifully to create this dish.

Habisa

Ingredients( I have struggled with English translations of the Ingredients, if any of you know better please do update)

Dhuli Moong Daal( Yellow): 1 cup

Potatoes: 4/5, remove the skin and halve

Parwal: 4/5, halved

Green Banana: 1, remove the skin and cut into large pieces- same size as potato and parwal

Arbi: 4/5, remove skin and halve

Ginger: 1 inch, grated

Desi Aloo: 4/5 pieces( this is the ugly brown looking alu, probably called Jimmykand in Hindi)- optional

Ghee: 1 tbsp

Grated coconut: 2/3 tablespoons

Lal Saag( Kosala in Oriya, sorry but I do know any other name for this one): 1 bundle, chopped into large pieces

Oou( called Chalta in Bengali): 4/5 slices( this is a khatta fibrous fruit and is used to make chutneys and achars in the Eastern part of the country)

Method

Boil the daal with 4/5 cups of water in deep bottom kadai/dekchi. Remove the scum as it rises to the top- you may need to do it a couple of times. Add the vegetables one after the other. Start with Potato, Arbi and Jimmykand as this would take the longest to cook. Then add the Parwal and Green Banana. When you are halfway through the cooking add the ginger and oou. Finally add the saag. Salt to taste. Finish off with ghee and grated coconut.

Serve hot with plain rice.

P.S: I plan to cook this on Sunday so hopefully will upload a picture soon. Till then Bon Apetit and Happy Cooking!