The ultimate comfort food for dinner – Bhakhri, Khichdi, Kadhi, Shaak

Bhakhri, shaak, khichdi and kadhi is the ultimate comfort food for me. Dinner is called vaalu in Gujarati, and this is a typical combination for dinner in a Gujarati household. There are subsets of this combination of course, which are also quite popular like bhakhri-shaak and khichdi kadhi.

Moving counter-clockwise and starting from bottom left, the picture shows bhakhri, khichdi, shaak, kadhi and a papad on the top. You can also see jaggery and ghee on the bhakhri. Even though this might look like a super long post, making these for dinner is not at all complicated. I just like to make sure I do not miss out on any detail. 

Bataka wada – Raipur Bhajia House Style

Any Amdavadi worth his/her salt will swear by Raipur na bhajia. Non-resident Amdavadis like me, would kill for a plate of Raipur bhajiyas, even when they are in the city just for a few hours. The Raipur Bhajia House near the Raipur Darwaza at Ahmedabad sells the best bhajias in the city. The menu is quite limited. Boiled potato bhajias, Bataka wadas, Methi bhajias and Khaman is all that is available at this shop. Earlier, the shop used to be right in the middle of a very busy junction, causing much traffic problems. So, the shop has now shifted a little on the side, but the popularity of these bhajias remains undiminished. The shop sells just bhajias and no accompaniments whatsoever. No fried chillies, no onions, no chutneys, no water and not even a plastic bag. From as long as I can remember, they have been selling the exact same bhajias wrapped in newspaper with a cotton thread. And people continue to throng this shop. No matter what time of the day or year you go, you have to stand in a queue. The one thing I love apart from the food ofcourse, is that they have a separate queue for women foodies, which is usually much shorter . If you are not an Amdavadi, do pay a visit to the Raipur bhajia house when you are in the city and you’ll thank me.

Obviously, within a couple of days of me being in the city, I had my dose of Raipur bhajias. Driven by the enticingly delicious batakawadas, my mother and I decided to try and decipher their magical formula. Well, we did manage to get close to the Raipur bhajia version with the filling, but their perfect crispy cover still needs to be worked on. So, here come our attempt at cracking the Raipur bhajia house’s bataka vadas.

Now, the bataka wadas that we usually prepare are slightly different. In fact, there are a lot of versions of bataka wadas, but more on that later. The same preparation is called Batata wada in Bombay and other parts of Maharashtra, and is slightly different than this version I’m going to write about today.

Malpuas – soft, rich deep-fried Indian pancakes

As promised, I am back from a hiatus. Had a nice vacation at home and this recipe of a sweet called Malpua is going to mark the beginning of a series of recipes, all by my mother. Every time I visit home, I am reminded of at least a couple of delicacies, that were fairly common at home but have been forgotten by me over time.

Malpua is a very old and traditional sweet preparation. It is very common to see temples where Malpuas are served as prasad. My mother mentioned the other day that Malpuas and doodhpaak is a favourite combination for some people. The ingredients that go into making Malpuas are very easily available in any Indian household and theoretically, the recipe too is quite simple. If you haven’t got a chance to ever have Malpuas, I suggest you eat it somewhere first and then give the recipe a shot. Malpuas are pure indulgence, so dont look at the dripping ghee and enjoy the bliss!