Jire Khobaryachi Amati

... Amati with Coconut and Cumin.

It couple of years ago on a weekday afternoon, I had to go to DMV for drivers licence renewal or something of that sort. Even with proper appointment I had to wait in line for couple of hours and by the time I was done, I was hungry! I did not even get time to eat lunch before I left for the appointment. My friend S lives close to DMV and knew about my DMV visit. She called me to have lunch with her just few minutes before I was done. She had prepared simple Amati-bhaat for quick lunch before I head back to office. That was one amazing amati served with piping hot rice (and no ghee, I should mention). It was most satisfying meal I had in a long time.

Sometime later that year, my friend N and I had gone for a Gulam Ali and Talat Aziz's gazal concert. The concert got over late and we wanted to have dinner together. But we both did not want to eat out either. Her father in law was with us and he preferred eating home that day. N again made the same amati and we had it with rice and chapati both. I have been making this since then. I got recipes from both. They were very similar. I made my own changes to suit my taste and here it is, simple daily staple with coconut and cumin seeds.

Jire Khobaryachi Amati

3/4 cup of mixed daals (I added toor daal, mung daal, masoor daal)

3 tbsp dry coconut

3 tsp cumin seeds

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp tamarind pulp

1 tbsp jaggery

Salt per taste

Red chili powder for taste

For tempering - mustard seeds, hing, 5-6 curry leaves, pinch of turmeric powder

Preparation -

Pick over and wash the daals together. Pressure cook with 2 cups of water till soft.

Dry roast cumin seeds and set aside. Also dry roast coconut and set aside.

Let it cool and grind together. Cumin seeds should be coarsely ground.

Heat oil in a vessel, add mustard seeds let them splutter. Add curry leaves, hing, turmeric powder. Let it sizzle for a minute. Phodani is ready.

Mash cooked daal and pour it in phodani. Add water to make it thin. I usually use about little more than a cup of water for the amount of daal. Mix well.

Add coconut-cumin mix, salt, red chili powder, tamarind pulp, jaggery and let it boil for 3-4 minutes on medium heat.

Garnish it with chopped cilantro and serve with cooked quinoa or brown rice.

Tips -

1. You can use Urad daal if you wish in the daal mix but I prefer without it.
2. I use chilkevali mung daal as I love that texture.
3. Another friend of mine use the same method to make Chavalichi (black eyed peas) usal and that tastes great too.