Today I cooked this wheat – ganvu (Konkani) or godhi (Kannada) paays for dinner. One of my readers had requested for this recipe and I had bought whole wheat many days ago. Somehow I could never make it. Today I made a point to make something different than my staple vermicelli paays or sabudana paays . Luckily I had a tin of coconut milk which I had picked from Indian store during my last visit. This paays got ready in around 25mins and it was just out of the world.
This is an instant paays recipe. This might not be the traditional one, but I am happy I tried it. I got this recipe in a Kannada weekly. Small pieces of wheat can be tasted in the paays which enhances the richness of this sweet dish.
Wish you all a very happy Yugadi(thats how it is pronounced in Kannada) / Gudi padva .
Ingredients: 1/2 cup whole wheat 1/2 cup jaggery 1 cup thick coconut milk 1/4 tea spn cardamom powder 1 tbl spn raisins(dried grapes)
Method: Wash the wheat and grind it to a coarse paste. Add around 2 cups of water to it and cook on a low flame mixing it at regular intervals. You can see the mixture thickening. This sticks to bottom very soon, so keep mixing it. Add coconut milk, jaggery, raisins and cook for around 10mins. Take out from heat, add cardamom powder and mix well. Serve hot or cold.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 25mins
PS: The raisins can be fried in ghee and then added to the paays . Milk can be used in the place of coconut milk. I think lapsi (broken wheat) can be used instead of whole wheat. Just wash it well before using. If it is too coarse, grind it a bit before using.
I am feeling that, my knowledge about non Indian cuisines is very low. I am trying my best to learn as much as possible about them . It is very difficult for a person like me, who has not tasted many different cuisines, to search for such recipes without knowing their names. So I asked a person who has a vast knowledge about Indian as well as non Indian food. Most of my food blogger buddies might have known who it is by now, yes it is indeed Pelicano , who has just started his own blog.
This is what he said, “The book this is taken from recommends whole-wheat Italian bread and a salad of endive to accompany this, but personally I never serve bread with a soup that contains a starchy ingredient as I feel this is redundant, and also excessive in simple carbs! I think this soup, paired with a nice salad and followed with a plate of fruit is quite enough for a simple meal”.
He sent me 3 recipes, an Afghani soup – vegetarian mosh awa , an Italian soup – Zuppa di Pasta e Fagioli and one more dish. I don’t know much about pastas. So I picked up wrong pasta every time I went for shopping, though Pelicano gave me the name of pasta to be used in this soup. Anyway, after trying it out with different pastas(all wrong ones), I finally decided to choose the tiniest pastas from grocery store. I searched for it and found tiny “Stars estrellas” – “Pasta alimenticia” (well, I don’t know which is the name of the pasta and which is brand name, so thought of mentioning both). It is a Mixican pasta type, at least the packet says so.
I used the beans which I had. First time I used black eyed beans and next time I used dried green peas. The final result was too good. This is one more exotic soup and tastes heavenly.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup dried white beans(navy beans) 1/4 cup chopped onion 1/2 tea spn finely chopped garlic Olive oil 1/4 cup chopped celery 1/4 cup chopped carrot 1/4 cup chopped sweet bell pepper ( or poblano chile- large dark green) 1 bay leaf 1/4 tea spn oregano 1/4 tea spn crushed/powdered red chili 1/4 cup chopped tomato 2-3 cups vegetable broth 1/2 cup ditalini or other small pasta 1/2 tea spn fresh/dried basil 1 tea spn fresh/dried parsley Romano or parmesan cheese Salt
I didn’t use celery and pepper, still it turned very good.
Method: Soak the beans overnight and cook them till they are soft. Heat water and add pasta and little oil. Cook till al dente . Heat olive oil and add onion, garlic, celery, carrot, pepper, bay leaf, oregano, red chili and saute till onions are translucent. Add tomatoes and fry for few moments. Add carrots, broth and cook till carrots are soft. Add cooked beans, pasta, parsley and basil.Cook for around 10mins. While serving, serve with cheese.
Serves :2-3 Preparation time : 40mins
PS: I have changed the proportions of the original recipe to suit taste. I have simplified the procedure.
