MY AAI’S BIRTHDAY AND HER SECRET VARAN RECIPE Today is a very special day... one, obviously because its Diwali. But more than that, it is also my mom’s birthday! My Aai turned 71 today. On this special occasion I wanted to dedicate a special dish for my Aai, the one person from whom I took my primary lessons in cooking and to whom I owe all my love and passion for this culinary art. I thought and thought and thought... the more I tried to remember all those khaas (special) moments I shared with her, the more and more was my mind filled with memories of relatively small and mundane events. I remembered all those times when she saved me from my father’s scolding, those phone calls she made every half an hour to find out if I was okay when I used to be with the baby-sitter, the way she defended me when summoned by my class teacher to complain about the sketch I drew of her during an ongoing class. And then there are memories of those times when I used to be sick... As a child I used to catch colds and coughs culminating into fever very often. It would happen so many times that Aai would come home tired after a long day at work only to find me lying in bed down with high fever. Without wasting a minute she would just pick me up and rush to the doctor. She used to sit up by my bedside all night applying cold compress on my forehead in order to break the fever. I used to so love falling sick those days... just because when I used to be unwell my mom would take a day off from work in order to attend to me. Not only would she stay back at home, but also hand-feed me my most most most favourite and ultimate comfort food, the garma-garam Varan Bhat-Tuup Limbu (Rice served with plain dal and a generous quantity of home-made ghee and a dash of lemon). So today, on the occassion of my Aai’s birthday, I am sharing my mother’s secret recipe of the Bestest and Yummiest Varan. Before we start, a little about Varan Bhat... No typical maharashtrian brahmani meal will ever be complete without the daily serving of what we call the Sadha or Goda Varan (Maharashtrian Plain Dal) and Bhat (rice). All Maharashtrian kids are brought up on a staple diet of Varan Bhat and I am no exception to this. And this is so divinely yum that you can gobble on it right away without any bhaji or other accompaniment. So here is my Aai’s Secret Varan Recipe... Ingredients - 1 cup Pigeon Peas / Tur Dal A pinch of Turmeric Powder A pinch of Asafoetida 1 tsp Oil salt to taste 1 tsp sugar 2-3 tbsp Ghee (or as much as your weight permits, the more the merrier is your Varan) – preferably home-made Method - 1. Wash the Tur Dal thoroughly till the water runs clear and soak it in 2 cups of water for half an hour. Soaking the lentils ahead of time makes them cook faster and it is also said that soaking makes sure that less gas is produced upon eating. 2. Add 1 tsp oil, asafoetida and turmeric powder and boil the soaked tur dal in the pressure cooker for 3 whistles. Then reduce the flame and allow the pressure cooker to remain on the low flame for 5 more minutes. This is important as you need your lentils to cook thoroughly. They should mash and blend in together. 3. Then using a Mathani or what we call a ‘Ravi’ in marathi, finely mash the dal to make a smooth puree like consistency. If you don’t have a mathani, you can alternatively simply whisk the dal with a egg beater or an immersion blender. 4. Pour this mashed dal into a larger pot. Add sugar and salt to taste and start heating it again. If you feel that the varan is too thick, you may add water to adjust it to the desired consistency. But dont make it too watery, for generally, varan is supposed to have a thicker consistency. Boil the dal for around 5 more minutes. 5. Just before serving add ghee and serve piping hot with steaming plain rice and a wedge of lemon. Yumm yumm!! Note – You can substitute sugar with jaggery.
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 12:01:54 +0000
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