Vaangi bhath

Vaangi bhath

by Hb ~ Thursday, September 10, 2009

When I had limited access to Indian food(read out of India and not US/UK), I used to crave for muddhapappu(Cooked and salted toor dal) and rice with ghee. This is a trademark Andhra humble/comfort food. I can't tell you how delicious it tastes. You need to have it atleast once to appreciate Andhra food.(This is why I refuse to say any food is better than Andhra's). So getting back to what I was saying, I once found a pack of 'MTR ready made Vaangi bhaath pwder' which my Guest House lady wasn't putting much use to. There were pretty looking brinjals(They looked kinda artificial though!) and I loved the Vaangi bhaath I made out of them. So did my roommate there.

After I got back to India, I so didn't want to use ready made powder, because the joy of making customized powders, eliminating things which we don't like so much and adding few which we have some great liking to is amazing. Also, the pride of 'I-made-it-all' is as good.

This flavored rice makes a wholesome meal. It is pungent, tangy and slightly sweet at the same time, none of the flavors overwhelming the other.
So, here's the recipe for Vaangi bhaath:

Serves - 2
Preparation time - 30-40 minutes

You will need:
Cooked rice - 2 cups
Brinjals(purple ones, short or long) - 5(diced)
Tamarind - 1 tb spoon
Jaggery - 1tb spoon
Salt - 3/4 tb spoon(adjust)
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tb spoon
Roasted cashew nuts - suggested garnishing
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tea spoon
Oil - 1.5 tb spoon

Spice powder
Coriander seeds/Dhania- 1 tb spoon
Cumin seeds/Jeera - 1/2 tb spoon
Chana dal/Bengal gram dal - 1tb spoon
Split gram dal/Urad dal - 1/2 tb spoon
Red chillies - 3-4
Methi/fenugreek seeds - 6-7 seeds

Procedure:
1. Roast the ingredients mentioned under spice powder section and grind them to a coarse powder.
2. Heat oil in a kadai and crackle the mustard seeds. Now, add brinjal pieces along with turmeric powder.
3. Saute the brinjal pieces for 2-3 minutes. Now add tamarind paste with some water, jaggery powder and salt. Let this cook for about 7-8 minutes.(Or as long as it takes for brinjal to turn soft and cooked)
4. Now add the spice powder and broken cashews and combine. Mix it for a minute.
5. Now add the cooked and cooled rice and combine carefully as to not let it turn mushy.
Serve it after it settles down for sometime and flavors suffuse through the rice.

Note: I didn't add dry coconut, I know I didn't :D I like it this way.

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