Sunday, August 30, 2009

I'm a Badi Badi Girl...


Badis, oh I love them! Crunchy,spicy chunks of dal that are dried into hard nuggets and chopped up and added to any number of Indian vegetarian dishes to give them a kick in the keister.
Badis come in many varieties and heats depending on what part of India they come from. Oh, and sometimes they're call Vadi, or Wadis, either way look for them at any indian grocery. I always have a bag of Punjabi Badi in my cupboard. It's hot with lots of pepper and spices and a smoky fragrance. Today I took it out. Maybe I just felt like pounding something with a mallet, maybe I wanted something extra spicy..who knows? Where else can one take a hammer to something and turn out something completely delicious?
I have a fridge full of all the vegetable booty that I dragged up the hill from the Farmers Market the other day. One of the farmers I partonize stuck a couple of extra globular squash in my bag as a gifty. She wanted me to try them, and since todays dish involves several varioety of squash and peas. I pulled it out of the vegetable drawer.
This dish is a mixture of soft vegetables with crunchy Badi, It's my adaptation of a recipe from Yamuna Devis' book Lord Krishnas' Cuisine. This dish calls for squash, but I find that almost any vegetable that one has loitering about the house will work. What one wants is a firm texture and since there are so many types of squash, knock yourself out. I daresay that eggplant would also work, perhaps pumpkin..you get the drift. try it the basic way, see if you like it then improvise.
Start Out with
1.) 1/2 cup of dried Punjabi Badi, mallet them down into pea sized pieces. Set them aside



2.) 5 small zucchini and 4 summer squash.

I use zucchini and globe squash, any squash will do. Mix them with
3.) 1/2 cup of peas, fresh or frozen.
4.) 4 whole cloves
5.) 1/2 inch piece of cinnamon
6.) 2 Tbs of chopped fresh mint.
7.) 4 Tbs of chopped fresh cilantro
8.) 2 fresh green chilies

In a large skillet melt 2 Tbs of unsalted butter or ghee

When the ghee/butter foams add the Badis and stir fry them till they turn golden brown



Stir in the vegetable spice mix.

9.) Add to that 2/3 cup of 1/2 and 1/2.



Lower the heat. Put a lid on the skillet and cook slowly for about 20 to 30 minutes. stir every now and then. When your vegetables are nicely simmered remove the chili peppers add 1/2 teasp. of salt and serve.

Badis aren't that hard to find if there's an Indian market nearby, or they can be mail ordered easily. Either way it's one more thing to do with zucchini.

2 comments :

  1. That looks wonderful! Do you make Indian food EVERY day?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Something almost every day...usually a side dish or vegetable.When I do a full meal multicourse for about 8 to 10 people it's a big deal, that's usually maybe twice a month, depending on how much work we have to get done.

    ReplyDelete

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