KAAVILCHE POLAE & KORI CHA

While we celebrate a lot of days attached to western foods like macarons, nutella, pizza, let us not forget the huge repertoire of Indian delicacies that have been cooked and consumed with fervour for generations. It's time we celebrate our Indian food too with as much pride. If you have missed out on earlier Indian food observance days like #AamAchaarDay #PapadBadiDay #MasalaDay #PulaoBiryaniDay, try to catch up on interesting upcoming ones by sharing recipes, stories, doing food walks and holding potlucks around them as they take place each month one at a time.

#ChaiPakodaDay is going to be celebrated on July 30 to commemorate the famous monsoon food combo relished across the country to enjoy the rains to the fullest. So here's your chance to join in the celebrations. I am joining in by posting recipes of my community's chai & pakoda specialties.

Here is how their recipes go:

---

KAAVILCHE POLAE OR BHAJJI
These are the Kokani Muslim community's version of dal polae or bhajji. This dish derives its name from the cast iron pan called kaavil in which these pakodas are made. The core ingredient is tur dal and a grainy paste of the dal is mixed with onions, green coriander and spice powders to make the batter. The pakodas are not deep fried but are flattened out in the pan itself and shallow fried.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 15- 20 minutes
Makes: 6-8 pieces

Ingredients:
For the dal paste:
• 8 tbsp Tur dal, soaked overnight
• 2 tbsp Water
• ½ tbsp Garlic, finely chopped
• ¼ tsp Salt
For the batter:
• 5 tbsp Onions, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp Fresh green coriander, finely chopped
• 2 tsp Red chilli powder
• 2 tsp Coriander powder
• ¼ tsp Turmeric powder
• ¼ tsp Cumin seed powder
• ¼ tsp Salt
For frying:
• Oil (1-2 tbsp for each round of frying)
Method:
For the dal paste:
• Add dal along with remaining ingredients to the blender to make a coarse, grainy paste.
• Keep aside:
For the batter:
• Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl for the batter and gently mix with hand.
• Add the dal paste now to the ingredient mix and mix well. 
For frying:
• Heat oil in a cast iron or non-stick pan on medium heat.
• Spoon roughly one tablespoon of the batter once the oil is hot. Flatten out the batter in the pan itself to get a half centimeter thick, palm-sized fritter.
• Fry each side for 4-5 minutes on low flame until a crisp and golden brown crust develops.
• Serve hot with tamarind chutney.

***********

KORI CHA
This is the Kokani Muslim version of tea sans milk. It is consumed as a stimulating drink at any time of the day but is enjoyed especially for breakfast. No refined sugar is used, instead a person has to nibble on a piece of jaggery and then sip on the tea if he/she wishes a sweet taste to the tea.
Serves: 2
Cooking Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
• 1 cup Water
• ¼ tsp Black tea leaves or tea powder
• 3-4 shoots Lemon grass (10-15 cm long without the bulb)
• Few cubes of jaggery as accompaniment
Method:
• Bring the water to a boil in a vessel.
• Add the tea leaves/powder and lemon grad shoots once the water has started boiling.
• Allow to simmer for just 2 minutes and pull off stove.
• Serve hot with cubes of jaggery alongside.

So, do try out these recipes and let me know how they turned out.
Till then, Happy Cooking...