Vaangi Baath

Finally, the moment of truth.

Yeah, the whole thing is fussy and work but deal with it. As the CC said before, this is one of the joys of life.

The recipe is a myriad of textures. Each bite is different if you make it right because of the sheer multitude of textures in the combination.

(Source: modified from Cooking at Home with Pedatha.)

Ingredients

1 cup rice
1/4 tsp turmeric powder

2 tbsp vaangi baath podi

2 japanese eggplants (cubed)
1 potato (diced medium)
1 green pepper (diced medium)
1/2 cup peas

for tempering

1 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp urad daal
4 green chillies (sliced vertically on one side)
1 tsp asafoetida
12-16 curry leaves

the paste

1/4 cup dry coconut
2 green chillies
1/2 bunch coriander leaves (yep, leaves only!)

the powder

1/4 cup urad daal
1/4 cup chana daal (bengal gram)

Recipe

Boil the rice in plenty of salted water with the turmeric until just under soft. Drain, let cool and set aside.

Roast the dry coconut until golden. Grind with the green chillies and coriander leaves into a fine paste with the minimum amount of water possible. Scrape into a bowl.

Dry roast the two daals on low heat until they turn golden. Grind to a fine powder. Set aside.

Add half the paste, the vaangi baath podi to the rice and mix gently. (This can most effectively be done with your hands so jump in there and mix them gently.)

Heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds until they pop; add the urad daal. Add the rest of the tempering ingredients (curry leaves, asafoetida, green chillies.)

Add the chopped vegetables, and stir-fry without adding any water until done. (The order, in case it is not obvious, is necessarily potato, green pepper, eggplants.)

This step takes a looooooooooooong time so the CC advises that you chill during this step (and yes! the not adding any water makes all the difference in the world!)

Add the peas, the remaining half of the paste, and all of the prepared powder. Cook for 3-4 minutes on a low flame.

Mix all the ingredients together and serve.

Vaangi baath

Vaangi Baath Podi

Before we go on to making the vaangi baath (eggplant rice with vegetables) itself, we first need to learn how to make this fairly complex spice mix.

This sounds rather mundane on the page but is a spectacularly intoxicating affair which takes quite a bit work to make but is one of the joys of life.

(And while you're whirring your coffee grinder reflect on the fact that once upon a time, people used to grind this by mortar and pestle.)

First, read this post.

(Source: Cooking at Home with Pedatha.)

Ingredients

to be roasted dry

1/4 cups coriander seeds

to be roasted in oil

1/2 cup red chillies

to be roasted in ghee

1/4 cup naagkesar
1/4 cup dagad phool
1/8 cup marati moggu
1/8 cup star anise
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tbsp cloves
1/4 tbsp nutmeg
1 stalk mace

Recipe

Roast the coriander on a low flame first till golden. Set aside.

Roast the chillies in very little oil on a low flame till crisp and bright red but not brown. Set aside.

Roast each ingredient SEPARATELY in the barest of bare minimum of ghee until done, and set aside.

Combine everything and grind to a fine powder. Store in a dry airtight container.

Marati Moggu

After the spate of depressing posts about ingredients that you may or may not be able to find, finally a post where you can make legitimate substitutions.

This is the dried fruit of the caper tree (Latin: capparis spinosa; Indian: marati moggu, marathi moggu, etc.)

If you can't find it, take salt-cured capers (not vinegar-cured), wash the salt off, and dry in the sun (or at your lowest oven setting below 200°F for 90-120 minutes depending on the size of the capers.)

Unsurprisingly, it tastes like capers but the drying changes the flavor enough to be worth it, and you can store it for a long time.

The CC vaguely remembers that "dried capers" are a Greek specialty but he could be wrong about this one.

Naag kesar

The CC is at a loss as to how to describe this except that it's called "cobra's saffron" in English (naagkesar, nagkesar, etc. in various Indian languages) (Latin name: Mesua ferrea.)

You need this for various recipes. Absolutely critical. Sorry folks, you're on your own on this one. The CC doesn't have any way to help you out (yes, the CC feels bad about this bait-n-switch.)

Dagad Phool

This is a dried lichen (yep!) used in Indian cooking. (Latin: parmelia perlata.)

Certainly the only example of a lichen the CC knows off that's used as a spice.

It has a characteristic unmistakable woodsy musky earthy smell (not quite truffle-esque, and not quite morel-esque but unmistakably earthy.)

Anyone who claims to make the very Maharastrian goda masala or the Andhra vaangi baath podi without this is pretty much clueless about food.

It seems to have a reputation as an aphrodisiac (unverified by the CC but that's another "hello truffles!")