A Visit to Kadoli Farm

A  Visit to Kadoli Farm

Sunday 3.3.13, a bunch of friends left for Polo forest for photo shooting. It turned out to be a fun filled day with the most authentic, traditional, simple and delighted lunch treat at Kadoli Farm.

Kadoli farm, situated in the interiors of 8 acres of cultivated land owned by King and Queen of Vijayanagar, district Gujarat. The humble welcome by King Harvardhan Singh Rathore (he avoids to use Rathore as his surname owing to his personal reasons) and Queen Gargi Devi took us to the journey of royalty and its current existence.

After a quick ginger tea, we went for the work, we were scheduled for. The shoot was fun filled and tiring. The scorching heat made us dehydrated and hungry. The hunger pangs forced us to return back to our host where a sumptuous lunch was waiting for us.

I was terribly hungry; I quickly freshened up and asked the queen if I can start the meal. I complimented her as she looks like my aunt. She was dressed in chiffon sari, nicely draped covering her head. The two bangles and vermillion in her forehead, reminded me of my aunt.

I started opening the casseroles in which food was served on the wide table. I was expecting some rich spicy, dry fruits clad meal. But I was disappointed to see the simple, traditional food served in every Indian house. The menu was small and same, a paneer recipe, sabzi,chapatti, dal chawal , curd, salad and gajar ka halwa.

With a disappointed face, I started my meal. With first bolus of food, I felt the most amazing, soft buttery paneer cooked in rich green gravy. The sabzi was aloo mutter. Palak paneer was made as per the traditional authentic recipe: you blanch, blend and make spinach puree. In a thick bottom pan, sauté finely chopped garlic and onion. Add spices (black pepper and salt). On medium heat, cook the puree for ten minutes. Add cubes of paneer. The aloo muttar recipe was same as I had published in my earlier posts.

What sweeps away the heart is the dal. The yellow lentil (arhar/toor) which we regularly cook in our houses was the best part. Very simple, easily made. Just boil the lentil, in a pan sauté the diced garlic in desi ghee till burnt. Add salt. Add the tempering to the lentil. Garnish with chopped coriander. YESSS! The simplest recipe ever, trust me, it blew my taste buds.

The curd; rich creamy smooth like vanilla icecream. I asked her the secret; she told us that they get the fresh pure milk from buffalo for curd and paneer.

Gajar ka Halwa: Against my quick recipe which I make from condensed milk, the dessert here was quick too, grate the carrots, add few ml of milk and add loads of malai (the thick layer of milk after pasteurisation).cook for 15 min. Add sugar when it is almost done. Remove from heat, let the sugar melt itself. Garnish with dryfruits.

The menu was simple yet delightful, full of flavours. A savoury you rarely relish and eagerly look forward to. Moreover before completing this draft, the food is incomplete if the love is not added to food which I could see in her gestures and happiness while serving us.

Thanks to her highness Mrs Gargi Devi for the most memorable lunch ever.

Handva

I always get fascinated by the variety of farsans (snacks) savored in Gujarati families. The names are endless, khakhara, handava, khandvi, dhokla, patra etc. and lemme tell you, they all taste unique and awsome.

The curiosity is in the process which is widely in use, these days because of diet awareness and increasing tendencies of obesity among Indians. they use the steam process for the preparation of variety of snacks like dhokla, patra.
Although the snacks are quite healthy and rich in proteins. but, the heavy tempering full of cotton seed oil ruins the charm of low calorie snacks. not to forget that tempering obviously increases the flavor of snacks.

Today I tried Handva (handvo) in my kitchen. I tried making it low calorie (being a diet conscious).
its a very healthy hearty recipe full of proteins and give a fuller effect on satiety. people sometime replace it with the meals. In some gujarati thali, its a part of platter.

Here goes the recipe:
Ingredients:

1 cups rice 

1/2 cup toovar (arhar) dal

1/4 cup urad dal (split black lentils)

1/4 cup moong dal (split green gram)

1/4 cup chana dal (split Bengal gram)

1 cup sour curds

2 1/2 cups grated bottle gourd (doodhi / lauki) other vegetables like carrots, potato can be used.

4 tbsp oil

1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp soda- bi-carb

1 tbsp sugar(optional, for contrast)

1 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)

3 tbsp green chilli-ginger paste

salt to taste

for tempering optional: 2tsf oil, hing(asafoetida), mustard seeds, sesame seeds, chopped green chilli, chopped coriander.

soak the rice and pulses for few hours. grind them in mixer. add sour curd and ferment for 3hrs (in summers,time for fermentation can be reduced). add the rest of ingredients in the batter. 
spread the batter in a baking dish. bake it on 180.C in preheated oven for 30-40min untill the crust becomes golden brown. 

after that, tempering can be done, in a pan, heat oil, add hing, mustard seeds, sesame seeds, green chillies. heat it untill the seeds start crackling.
another option is, that tempering can be mixed in the batter itself before baking 
garnish with coriander. serve with imli chutney.