Culinary celebrations

The scene defined a collage of snapshots from small towns across India. People dressed in bright colours, stalls decorated in grandeur and the smell of fresh, hot snacks wafting in the air greeted food lovers to the Indian Club in Manama.

Hosted by the Indian Ladies Association, the 'Amidst Flavours - Zaike ka Safar' evening was a joint celebration to mark New Year festivities from various Indian states including Punjab, Kerala, Bengal, Assam, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

Indian Ambassador, Balkrishna Shetty inaugurated Saturday's event and made a tour of the stalls.

Each stall was decorated in traditional manner of the respective states with props, ornaments and customary articles.

Aside from the food stalls, there was also entertainment activities including dance performances, henna, face painting and games such as Throw the Ring, Drop the Coin and Let me See Your Aim.

Well Dress Boutique offered a selection of traditional Indian salwars and kurtis both readymade and dress materials.

The Indian Ladies Asoociation also had a stall set up 'ILA ke Rasoi' with various cuisines showcasing different Indian tastes.

Also at the event was a stall inviting prospective comedians to take part in next month's audition for popular Indian TV show - 'The Great Indian Laughter Challenge'.

Rava Ladoo

Teacher Asha Raj, from Gudaibiya, who presented food on the Andhra Pradesh stall, shared one of her recipes with GulfWeekly readers.

1 cup semolina

1 cup grated fresh coconut

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup warm milk

1/2 cup cashew and raisins

2 tbsp Indian ghee (clarified butter)

Pinch of cardamom powder

Procedure:

Roast the semolina in a pan until it turns slightly brown and keep aside. Repeat this with the grated coconut. Also, roast the cashews and raisins in the ghee and set aside. In a separate vessel, add all the ingredients along with the warm milk and couple of cardamoms or a pinch of cardamom powder and mix well. Once the dough is ready, make small balls and the sweet ladoo is ready to serve.

Khasta dal kachori with chana

Poonam Sharma and Ranjana Jaiswal share a recipe they served at the Delhi stall with GulfWeekly readers.

Ingredients:

3/4th cup skinless dried black beans (urad)

4 cups flour (atta)

1 green chili chopped

1/2 tsp salt

Oil for deep frying

1 tbsp anise seeds (saunf)

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp white cumin seeds

1/2 tsp red chili powder

1/4th tsp asafoetida powder

Preparation:

Soak the beans in water overnight then rinse and drain.

Sift the flour and gradually add enough water to make soft dough. Cover the dough with damp cloth and leave for 30 minutes.

Grind the drained beans with the chili powder, salt and spices to make stuffing. Mix well and divide it into 16 equal portions.

Divide the dough into 16, using wet hands, and smear each portion with a little oil.

Flatten and roll out into two inch round shapes.

Wrap one portion of stuffing in each round and roll into a smooth ball, using greased hands.

Flatten and roll into a 3-4 inch round.

Heat plenty of oil in a deep frying pan or a kadhai, and fry kachories.

Immediately start flickering hot oil over the top of it with a spatula so that it will swell up like a ball.

This should take only a few seconds. Flip the kachori over and cook the other side until golden brown.

Serve the dal kachori hot with kabuli chana, mithi (sweet imli) chutney, mint chutney and garnish with coriander leaves.