Gujarati Osaman and Chhuti Dal Recipe

A memory: my granny telling me a story, mixing together soft rice with warm chhuti dal and slightly spicy osaman. Then she puts in a dollop of homemade fragrant ghee and a squeeze of fresh lemon. She mixes it to a soft mushy texture that I like and feeds me the first bite.

Gujarati Osaman Recipe

Osaman is to Gujaratis what rasam is to Tamils. A warm, comforting broth spiced with home-y memories. It is a thin and tangy broth with warm cinnamon and pungent clove. The real flavour of osaman is in the fragrance of the ghee tempering that fills your home with an appetising and comforting smell.

 

 

 

 

Gujarati Osaman Recipe

Chhuti dal is the flavoured boiled dal that adds volume to osaman and steamed rice when being eaten. The usual way of eating osaman and rice is by adding some chhuti dal to it. You can add some ghee and a squeeze of lemon for more flavour.

Chhuti Dal Recipe

Gujarati Osaman and Chhuti Dal Recipe

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 cup toor dal
3 cups water
2 tsps cumin seeds
2 tsps turmeric powder
2 tbsps ghee
1 tsp mustard seeds
6-8 curry leaves
1/2 inch piece of cinnamon bark
2 cloves
1 tsp red chilly powder
2-3 pieces of dried kokum/ tamarind
1 tbsp jaggery
2 tsps finely chopped corriander
2 tsps grated fresh coconut (optional)
Salt to taste

Method

Wash and soak the toor dal for about 15 minutes. Pressure cook it with the 3 cups of water, a little salt, 1 tsp cumin seeds and 1 tsp turmeric powder.

When cooked, drain the excess water and keep it aside. Then mash the dal to a mushy texture. That's your chhuti dal!

To the excess water, add about 2 tbsps of the chhuti dal. Blend well together.

Heat ghee in a pan. Temper with mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves.

Add the cinnamon and cloves and fry for about 15 seconds.

Add turmeric and red chilly powder and fry for another 20 seconds, making sure they don't burn.

Now add in the water of the dal prepared above. Savour the fragrance for a bit!

Put in the kokum pieces and the jaggery. Stir and bring to a boil.

Lower the flame and add fresh corriander, grated coconut and salt. Let it boil for another 5-7 minutes till the flavours are released.

Serve hot!

10 Must-Have Gujarati Dishes

Gujaratis (people from the state of Gujarat in western India) have a big love affair with their food. No wonder, as soon as people find out that I am a Gujarati and a food blogger, the conversation turns towards Gujarati food.

If I had to use three words to describe Gujarati food they would be 'sweet', 'sour' and 'abundant'. Yes, Gujarati food is unapologetic about the presence of sugar or jaggery and lemon or tamarind in most dishes and about eating and feeding in hearty quantities.

As I have often declared, I am a Gujarati who eats very little Gujarati food. This is because I am not a great fan of all the sour and sweet flavours being there in the food all the time. However there are few dishes of Gujarati cuisine that I truly relish and that make me go back to my roots. 

Here is my list of Gujarati dishes you MUST have-

1. Fresh Toor Kachori (Leeli Tuver ni Kachori)

Fresh Toor Kachoris (Leeli Tuver ni Kachori)

This is a seasonal snack made in winters when fresh toor (leeli tuver) is available. This fried crisp kachori is filled with minced fresh toor that is sauteed with sesame, ginger, garlic, and flavoured with lemon and sugar for the Gujarati touch. It is a great snack and a traditional dish not easily found outside Gujarati home kitchens. So you either need to make it for yourselves or get invite to a Gujarati home in winters to have it!

2. Mag ni Dal na Pudla

Mag ni Dal na Pudla

This five ingredient quick fix make the taste of the moong dal (split green lentil) the hero of the taste of this dish. Neither too pungent, nor too spicy, this dish is great for kids and foreigners who love Indian food but beware of the pungency levels. It is full of proteins and makes for a great breakfast dish or a snack at any time of the day.

3. Lapsi

Lapsi: Image Courtesy: tarladalal.com

Lapsi is a sweet dish made of finely broken wheat. It is made by roasting broken wheat in ghee (clarified butter) and then cooking it in water with sugar and cardamom till it is soft. Lapsi holds quite some significance in Gujarati cuisine and is often cooked during a lot of festivals and weddings.

4. Handvo

Handvo: Image Courtesy: FoodFood.com

Handvo is a dish made famous by the scene in 3 Idiots where a drunk Kareena Kapoor asks Amir Khan as to why Gujarati dishes sound so dangerous with names like 'handvo' and 'dhokla' that sound like the name of bombs. Handvo are savoury lentil cakes made on the gas stove top that are served with a tempering of sesame seeds, red chillies and corriander on top. They make for a good snack or a light lunch or dinner dish.

5. Undhiyu

Undhiyu: Image Courtesy: tarladalal.com

Undhiyu is the most popular and elaborate Gujarati dish I have come across. Like tuver ni kachori, it is a seasonal dish, made only when fresh garlic with greens, surti papdi (broad beans) and leeli tuver are available. A main course dish had with pooris or rotis, it is made of different vegetables like papdi, tuver, baby brinjals, potatoes, sweet potatoes, purple yams and peas and muthiyas (fried spicy balls of fresh fenugreek with wheat flour, semolina and gram flour) in a green gravy made of fresh corriander, fresh garlic with greens, coconut and corriander seeds powder. This is a Sunday favourite in most Gujarati homes during winter when the family sits together to eat it and then can have a long afternoon nap afterwards (as it is very heavy!)

6. Gujarati Kadhi

Gujarati Kadhi

Move over Punjabi pakodewaali kadhi, this is kadhi as we Gujaratis do it! Undeniably sour and sweet with hints of spice from the chillies, curry leaves and cumin, Gujarati kadhi is a yogurt sauce best had with plain steamed rice. It is usually served with chhuti dal steamed yellow moong dal as an accompaniment, the scientific reason being to make up for the proteins needed in the meal!

7. Panki 

Panki: Image Courtesy: http://spiceroverindia.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/soam

Panki is a steamed crepe made of rice flour flavoured with turmeric, cumin, salt, garlic and green chillies. It is steamed by wrapping in a banana leaf and is served hot wrapped in the leaf. It makes for a great appetizer that gets the juices flowing.

8. Mag ni Dal na Dhokla

Mag ni Dal na Dhokla

Dhoklas are very famous Gujarati snacks. My experience has often been that it is the most popularly requested recipe from me. Mag ni dal na dhokla are made from split green lentils instead of the regular fermented rice batter (white khatta dhokla) or gram flour dhoklas (yellow khaman dhokla). Again made from 5 ingredients, these steamed dhoklas are light, lovely and tasty. They are perfect for vegetarians, vegans or those on a diet.

9. Khandvi

Khandvi

Khandvi are delicate, thin gram flour and buttermilk rolls that take some practice and effort to get proficiency in. The rolls in themselves are only flavoured with salt and buttermilk but the tempering of mustard, cumin and corriander adds another layers of flavour to it. I love this dish for it's delicate texture and flavours.

10. Masala Chaas 

Masala Chaas

With our love for hearty meals with plenty of food, no meal can be complete without masala chaas (spiced buttermilk) as an appetizer or after-meal digestive beverage. Masala chaas is a very easy and quick beverage and has beautiful flavours of cumin, ginger, chilly and fresh corriander that spice up the regular buttermilk made of  yogurt, water and salt.

Gujarati cuisine is full of flavours and colours with plenty of dishes in terms of variety and quantity.

Masala Chaas (Spiced Buttermilk) Recipe

Mumbai winters are of the 'blink-and-you-miss-it' kind. And we often say that the only season Mumbai has is summer with three months of summer monsoon thrown in. The point being that summer is already in the air and it's barely mid March.

The weather has already reached the summer vacation season level (sigh. vacation!). The levels of mercury are soaring, and so is the humidity. This season comes with decreased appetites and a greater desire for refreshing and thirst-quenching cooling beverages.

Masala Chaas: Spiced Buttermilk

There are a wide variety of beverages available - but for me nothing beats the heat like 'aapdi masala chhas' (our spiced buttermilk)! A light drink of cooling yogurt with a hint of spice from ginger, green chilly and cumin.. ah! 

Chhas can be served in various ways. In the Gujarati tradition of food, chhas is usually served before a meal as it increases appetite and aids digestion. It can also be had as a refreshing beverage any time of the day. It also forms a good accompaniment for khichdi. 

Masala Chaas: Spiced Buttermilk

Masala Chaas (Spiced Buttermilk) Recipe

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

2 cups yogurt

4 cups cold water

2 green chillies

1/2 inch piece of ginger

2 tbsps finely chopped corriander leaves 

1 tsp cumin powder

Salt to taste

Method

Grind together the chillies and ginger to form a fine paste.

Mix together the yogurt and water in a deep vessel.

Add in the salt, the cumin powder and the ginger and green chilly paste. Blend well with a hand blender.

Now add in the chopped corriander leaves.

Serve chilled!