Tittori – Spicy Field Beans made the Parsee way

Tittori – Spicy Field Beans made the Parsee way

I’m posting a vegetarian dish after quite a while. There are a few dishes, simple vegetarian dishes that bring the carnivore in me to my knees. They leave me begging for more. The dish I’m sharing with you today is one such dish. Its spicy Field beans / Lablab beans, what most Indians know by the name, Val or Val dal (we Bawas call it Val ni Dar). Sprouted field beans cooked the ‘bawa’ way is called Tittori.

These days’ ready sprouted field beans are available at supermarkets, but I remember the time when this was made by our grand moms from scratch. I usually buy ready sprouted field beans but if you wish to try the procedure of sprouting them at home please check out, ‘The Sprouting’ at Kenzy's Kitchen Korner. This dish is usually served with fried fish and chapattis. It is simple home cooked food but bliss, sheer gastronomic bliss!! Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

300 grams sprouted field beans / lablab beans / val, washed

4 large onions, chopped

3 green chilies, finely chopped

4 large tomatoes, chopped

½ dried coconut / kopra, ground to a fine thick paste

1¼ tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

3 teaspoons dhanshak masala

1½ teaspoons garam masala powder

1½ - 2 teaspoons sugar

Salt to taste

1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste

150 grams Maggi coconut milk powder (Sri Lankan Brand)

400 mils water

2 small dried kokum pieces / garcinia indica

6 tablespoons oil

6 sprigs coriander leaves, chopped

Method:

1. Mix Maggi coconut milk powder with 400 mils water. Keep aside.
2. Heat oil in a thick bottomed vessel. Add the onions, green chilies and sauté till the onion turn translucent.
3. Add the ginger-garlic paste and sauté for a minute. Do not let it burn.
4. Add the chili powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, dhanshak masala, sugar, salt and sauté for a minute till spices are cooked.
5. Add tomatoes and sauté on medium low heat till tomatoes are soft and cooked, with specks of oil emerging on the surface of the gravy.
   
   
   
   
6. Add the ground dried coconut paste and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on medium heat.
   
   
   
   
7. Add the sprouted field beans, coconut milk and two cups water. Continue cooking on medium heat till the beans are cooked. (Please note: The beans though soft and cooked should remain intact. Stir the beans intermittently but very carefully or they will turn mushy.)
   
   
   
   
8. Add the dried kokum pieces, coriander leaves and continue cooking for 2 more minutes on very low heat.
9. Check seasoning and adjust if needed. Remove from fire and serve with fried fish and chapattis.
   

Chef Notes:

1. I bought ready sprouted field beans from the supermarket but if you wish to sprout them at home, follow my Grandma’s method.
2. If using coconut powder, I always use the Maggi brand of coconut powder (from Sri Lanka) when I require coconut milk for any recipe. Or... You can grind fresh coconuts and use the first (thick) extract to obtain 400 mils thick coconut milk. Or... You can also opt for 400 mils of coconut milk (tetra packs). 
3. Kokum pieces are added to certain dals/lentils because they tend to be a bit heavy on the stomach and they also lend a delicious light tang to the dish.
4. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.
   
   

The Sprouting

The Sprouting

Gosh! That sounds like a Night Shyamalan movie. Don't worry, it isn't. The process, though, of sprouting beans is just as tedious as watching one of Shyamalan’s movies hence the name seems quite apt. (Shyamalan fans are going to slaughter me :P ) Go on, sprout 'em. :) 

These days sprouted field beans, or for that matter any kind of sprouted beans, can easily be found in a grocery store or a supermarket. There are some places, though, that do not have the luxury of such ready products. This post is especially for those of you who have to, or want to, make sprouts at home. The procedure for sprouting any beans/dals remains the same. The time frame will vary depending on the type and the quality of the beans/dal so when you decide to do this ensure you check on the beans/dals every 6 to 8 hours. Once you are satisfied with the shoot sprouting from the beans/dal, it is ready to be taken to the next level (cooked). Big varieties of beans need to be skinned once they sprout but dals like Moth Beans/Matki or Green Gram/Moong need not be skinned. You may directly cook them once they sprout to your satisfaction. I will soon be posting a recipe of Spicy Field Beans, what we Bawas know as ‘Tittori’ hence this initial post about sprouting Field Beans.


The Sprouting procedure:

Day 1:

1. Wash the field beans twice and soak the field beans for 30-32 hours.
   
   

Day 2:

1. Drain out the water and put the soaked fiend beans into a colander standing over an empty vessel.
   
   
   
   
2. Take a damp muslin cloth and cover the drained field beans with it.
   
   

 Day 3 & 4:

1. Leave the field beans covered with the damp muslin cloth for a minimum of 48 hours, until the skin on the field beans begin to split and the field beans has a sprout/shoot of at least 1 inch in length. (IMPORTANT: Please check the muslin cloth every 4-6 hours and dampen it every time it feels dry.)
   
   
   
   
2. Depending on the quality of the field beans they will sprout anywhere within the time frame of 48 to 60 hours.
3. After the field beans sprout, skin each bean (remove the loose skin from each field bean). Discard the skin covering and use the beans as needed.
   
   

Chef Notes:

1. The muslin cloth that you cover the field beans with should be really damp and yet not dripping with water.
2. Very IMPORTANT: Intermittently, as and when the muslin cloth gets dry, during the time that you leave the field beans covered with the cloth, please ensure that you keep dampening the muslin cloth. That is very essential for the sprouting procedure. 
3. If a thin muslin cloth gets dry very quickly, feel free to use a double layer of muslin cloth to keep the beans/dals damp. 
4. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.

Eddie’s Kitchen… Total VFM!

Eddie’s Kitchen… Total VFM!

Some places have wonderful memories attached to them. I remember going to this small Chinese restaurant way back in the 90’s. However, it was shut down for a long time and opened under new management a few of years ago. Since it reopened, I have been to this restaurant umpteen number of times and the food has never been disappointing.

Piping hot starters at Eddie’s Kitchen is comfort food for me. After hassled trips to the bank or after a bout of crazy shopping, the place I usually head to is Eddie’s Kitchen. It’s simplistic in décor, simplistic in crockery and cutlery but what it can surely boast of is extremely polite servers and excellent starters. I usually, only, have the starters at Eddie’s. I have a big weakness for the starters listed on their menu and usually end up having just that, which is precisely why I’m only reviewing their starters.

It had been drizzling all of yesterday when I had gone shopping with a very sweet school friend (house guest) from ‘Kaneda’ (read: Canada :P ). We had been peeking into shops around Pune City for stuff like Ganesha murtis, temple bells (sigh!) , cotton Puneri sarees (double sigh!), Laxmi Narayan Chiwda et more. After gallivanting all over Pune, all I wanted to do was plunk myself on a chair and have some hot, spicy starters.

Singapore Black Pepper Prawns

 As we walked into Eddie’s Kitchen my friend’s face kinda dropped a tad bit wondering why I had brought her to such a simple joint when she knew I could well have taken her to a restaurant with better ambiance. As I mentioned earlier, Eddie’s has virtually no ambiance. My friend had that glazed look on her face and if I could read her thoughts I have a sneaky feeling she would be telling herself, ‘why this restaurant’?

Indonesian Sam Bal Prawns

We moaned and sat ourselves down. Okay, let me rephrase that. I moaned as I placed my backside on the chair. I was totally pooped! Shopping the way she did, is just not my forte. *a fagged out triple sigh!* My friend asked me to order and knowing she loved porns (kya kahu, Rakhi Sawant ki hawa lagi hai :D ) as much as I did, I ordered my all time favorites. Indonesian Sam Bal Prawns, Singapore Black Pepper Prawns, Butter Garlic Prawns and Chicken Lollipops.

Chicken Lollipops

While my friend still sat with a glazed, ‘mein yaha kaise aa gayi’ type of look, the server brought us our first dish, Singapore Black Pepper Prawns. I watched my friends face as she took the first morsel because I knew exactly what I was going to see. That glazed look suddenly turned into a satisfying grin. The typical foodie grin that now gave an indication of having understood why I had brought her to Eddie’s. The prawns were perfectly cooked. That’s always a big reason to mark an A+. The rest of the dishes followed and each one was made to perfection, as always. It felt great to see her grin through the meal and opt for seconds when offered.

Butter Garlic Prawns

I go to Eddie’s Kitchen time and time again and come away a happy puppy. As long as they continue to serve these awesome starters, it is one restaurant I shall be happy to patronize and recommend. Total damages for 4 dishes plus a cold drink was 970. Total VFM!

Ambiance: Chalta hai, khane par dhyan do yaar ;)
Service: 4/5 attentive and polite servers
Food: 4.5/5

Address:
1, Shirin Apartments
928, Opp Geeta Society,
Synagogue Street,
Camp, Pune 411 001.

Tel: 020 - 26135204 / 020 - 64169210

At the right Place!

At the right Place!

Finally, after over three months of being cooped up at home, all thanks to a silly meniscal tear in my knee, I finally trotted out to finish bank work, shop a wee bit and catch up with Priyadarshini (Priyus) for a long delayed, continuously postponed, luncheon.  We decided to eat at The Place - Touché The Sizzler.

We were gabbing and sipping our Fresh Lime Soda when the server brought us Garlic Mushrooms. How could we not order that? The mushrooms were fried to a perfect golden brown and were crisp. As usual, they were served with that delicious garlic sauce. Absolutely no complaints there! They have well and truly perfected this recipe and I am seriously contemplating bribing the oldest server there to steal the recipe of that garlic sauce for me. :D

I had the Steak Special sizzler. I requested the server to substitute chicken for ham and he readily agreed to do that. I’m a hardcore carnivore and a Bawi at that. I like to see a hint of pink in my steak hence had asked for medium rare steak. Unfortunately, by the time the meat reached my table it was at a point where it had just begun to turn to medium, luckily not too much. *Ah! There is definitely a God up there – I hate overcooked steaks* The glutton in me was quite a happy puppy. Taste wise, it wasn’t bad at all. It was quite juicy and tender. 

Okay, I’m the one who perpetually yells at this forum about the terrible fries served at The Place - Touché The Sizzler. Sometimes they’re soggy and sometimes re-fried. This time the disclaimer (on their new menu) about potatoes not being of good quality hence the request with patrons to make do with the quality of fries was ‘gayab’ - *BIG smile from me* The fries weren’t bad, either. They weren’t fabulous but compared to what they used to serve, there was a vast difference in quality. Honestly, I have to grant them that.



Priyus, ordered for a vegetarian sizzler. Plat Grimaldi (without paneer) and plain rice substituted with fried rice. Again, the server informed us it would be done. Priyus seemed to be happy with her sizzler. I cannot tell you how it was coz I have no friggin’ clue. You won’t ever catch me having a vegetarian sizzler. The Bawi in me would much rather wither away and die. :P :D



By the time we finished our sizzlers we were quite stuffed hence decided to share a Caramel Custard. Actually, Priyus decided to have the Custard and I decided to flick a spoonful (or two) of it. ;) It was velvety on the tongue with no egg-y smell. I can describe it in one word.. Perfect!

Gabbed with a kind hearted friend, ate good food, got a new Mathew Reilly book as a gift, shopped for odds and ends including Brie and Camembert (sigh!), finally ended the day with a take away from Imamdi (Iftar ka khana for dinner). As a foodie and an avid book reader, I couldn’t have had a better day. :-))

Damages 1400/-

Service: 4.5/5

Food: 3.75/5

Ambience: 3/5