JOIN USI am born in family of farmers and have always been fond of local produce and ingredients. As a chef, I feel that not many people are working on Indian food which has a very vast scope.
There are so many ingredients which are grown only in some villages and specific states, there are dishes which are exclusive to that particular state and I want to explore of all these.
After graduating from Institute of Hotel Management, Mumbai in 2003, I joined Olive Bar and Kitchen, from where my career as a professional chef began. While working with this restaurant, I met many chefs from France, Italy and Spain and got familiar with French, Italian and Spanish cuisines.
Now that I’m with The Embassy, I try fusing traditional Indian dishes with French and Italian ingredients to enhance their taste. For instance, for ‘Grilled Chicken’, I use Italian cheese and sage, an Italian herb for its gravy. The dish is highly appreciated by most of our patrons.
Today, I’m sharing the recipe of ‘Chana Bhathure’, a traditional street food which is loved by many people, especially during the season of monsoon. I have tweaked the dish by making the gravy very dry and chatpata, using pindi chana with lots of masalas.
The dry preparation of chanas in ‘Chana Bhathure’ will give a very different experience of this extremely loved food item.
Recipe - ‘Pindi Chana’
Ingredients:
n Triple dollar chick peas-600 gms
n Anardana powder-10 gms
n Saunth powder-10 gms
n Mace-2 gms
n Black pepper powder-5 gms
n Degi mirch powder-10 gms
n Ajwain-5 gms
n Black salt-5 gms
n Salt to taste
n Turmeric powder-10 gms
n Cumin powder- 10 gms
n Cinnamon powder-5 gms
n Big cardamom seed-5 gms
n Green cardamom- 5 gms
n Cloves-2 gms
n Bay leaf- 1
n Nut meg-2 gms
n Vanspati ghee-50 ml
n Ginger-50 gms
n Potato-200 gms
n Green chilli-50 gms
Method:
n Soak chickpeas overnight and boil them till they are soft.
n Blend all the dry spices to a fine powder.
n Drain chickpeas from water and mix with masala.
n Temper with piping hot vanspati ghee and cover it for at least one hour in a slow flame to get all the flavour from the masala.
n Garnish with homemade masala, green chilli, potatoes, ginger strips.