Last Friday my husband returned home
with a packet in his hand.
On asking what's there in it he replied
its a souvenir a colleague brought him from Amritsar.
I got excited and immediately opened it
and was a little shocked for what I found in it. There were some big dried
dumplings(wadi ) in it.(n believe me Big means real BIG!)Now who on earth gifts
wadi's as souvenir ??I knew that Amritsar wadi's are very famous but
had no clue of how to cook it.
I tried my hands on it the next day and
the outcome was .......we ordered Pizza that night...;););)But then, I did
not want to give it up on it so easily and called one of my Punjabi
friends and learnt the process and finally was successful in putting
the 'Punjabi tadka' to my food...
It is said that Vadi's originated in
Rajasthan as vegetables are scarce there and they had to mainly
live on lentils. So they came out with this process where they made
paste of the lentils combined them with various spices and sun
dried them. These are not only tasty but healthy and filling too.
If you think about it ,Vadis are not
only confined to Rajasthan and Punjab but it is made in almost all
the regions of our country with different variations.Earlier like
many other things wadi's were also made at home where the older ladies
passed on their expertise to the younger amateur ones. There would be
chat sessions, gossip and laughter and I think it was because of this
that the wadi's got that extra flavour of love which the market
one's lack. In my house wadi's were made by my Grandma which were the
tastiest wadi's I ever had. I remember her sitting in the Sun in the
chilly winter mornings and making different varieties of them .small
wadis, spice wadis and many more which were used in different
recipes in different ways which added to the taste that dish. My personal
favourite is the small masoor dal wadis which is deep fried and I
will share its recipe with you very soon.
For now,here is the recipe of Amritsari
aloo wadi. But if you don't have amritsar wadi you can also try it
with any masala wadi which you will get in any of your nearest grocery store. Do try it and let me know if you have any other idea of having these Wadis.
INGREDIENTS
1)Wadi - 2
2)oil
3) Pinch of aesofodita
4)Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves )
5)cumin seeds -1 tea spoon
6)Ginger paste -2 table spoon
7)Turmeric powder
8)Potato -2
9)Paste of 1 medium sized tomato and onion
10)Chopped coriander for ganishing
11)Salt to taste
12)1/2 tea spoon sugar
INGREDIENTS
1)Wadi - 2
2)oil
3) Pinch of aesofodita
4)Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves )
5)cumin seeds -1 tea spoon
6)Ginger paste -2 table spoon
7)Turmeric powder
8)Potato -2
9)Paste of 1 medium sized tomato and onion
10)Chopped coriander for ganishing
11)Salt to taste
12)1/2 tea spoon sugar
PROCEDURE:
1.Break the vadis into peices.
2.Put some oil in a frying pan and pry
the wadi's over low to medium flame.
3.In a vessel put some oil.Put the
pnich of aesofodita ,kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves ) and cumin
seeds.
4.Put the ginger paste,cumin powder
coriander powder and turmeric powder and fry it .
5.Add the tomato and onion paste and
fry it till the oil starts leaving the surface.
6.Put the potatoes and salt and cook it
for a few minutes.
7.Put a cup of water and cover the
vessel with the lid.Keep in on low flame and let it cook till the
potatoes become tender.
8.When the potatoes are tender add the
fried wadis.Add some water if needed and cover it again for 5 to 8
minutes.Keep the flame low.
This way the flavours will mix in
together.
9.Garnish with freshly chopped
corriander and serve with Roti or rice.
Happy cooking!!
Madhumita.
