Saturday, September 18, 2010

WHITE PEAS GHUGNI from Kichu Khon

The blog-sphere is full of this dish called Ghugni and in its many forms. It is mainly made from Chhole ( chick peas) or Matar (white pleas). Matar is  the matured form of green peas we eat.
My problem has been, I rarely succeeded in making this.  The reason is, no matter how I try, it becomes over boiled most of the time and the only option is to through the mushy stuff. ( Of course I made some dishes with the rejected stuff sometimes.)
So this time I again tried with Matar, just a little quantity. Great tips came from Sahrmila and Deepa too  on boiling the peas. The taste of a very simple Matar  ghugni has been lingering in my mind for decades. I got it at Sahrmila's blog. The recipe suited me. It did not require any elaborate preparation of spices. So I did not have the risk of throwing the spices along with the over boiled Matar.
So friends, if you want to take an excursion from our spicy cooking world , try this. The faint aroma of the Matar, coupled with the nice aroma of ginger, cumin  and red chili will give you a great satisfaction. There is no riot of Ginger, garlic, onion, tomato, chhole masala , garam masala et al) 
Please see the details at Sharmila's blog.
I am just giving you some idea here with a little suggestion on variation.
INGREDIENTS
White peas ( Matar) 1 cup
cumin 1 tsp
red chili dry 2
chopped ginger or Julienne 1 tbsp 
turmeric powder 3/4 tsp.
Cooking oil 1 tbsp ( Mustard oil or any other).  I have used 2 tbsp Ghee (clarified butter )
Sugar 1  tsp ( for taste and not for sweetening )
Green chili ( optional. I have added few, I like lot of green chili)
PROCESS
Soak the white peas in water overnight or for 4-6 hrs ( Sharmila has recommended about 1/2 hour, but I had already put it for soaking )
Heat oil / Ghee and add cumin seeds and red chili , don't brown.
Add soaked peas, turmeric, salt and fry.
Add green chili and ginger, sugar and mix.
Add 3 cups of water and pressure cook to 2 whistles, which was 2 1/2minutes. The Matar was not done . So I pressurized for another whistle . Total time under pressure was 41/2 minutes. It was done. I shall use this timing next time.
After opening the cooker, adjust water by adding a little or boiling off.
The taste and look was perfect except that, in my excitement  I forgot to focus the camera and the camera was not in ladies' mode :-)

Of course you can garnish chopped  onion, green chili, lemon juice and coriander leaves after serving on a plate.
If you find the taste is too bland, dont worry, just proceed from here with the usual ones,i.e. onion garlic, ginger, tomato, spices etc etc.
My ultimate destination is to make Mangso ghugni ( Ghugni with small pieces of red meat and befitting spices).
Deepa of Hamaree Rasoi gave me useful tips, " It is very difficult to predict exact boiling time...as the peas vary in their grade, moisture content etc. So it is always better to under cook, check and reboil..experienced people who cook these often, generally make it right in one go. "
If you want to cook this, please read the original recipe 
This awesome recipe is taken from Sharmila's blog   http://kichukhonn.blogspot.com/2008/05/ghoogni.html

35 comments:

Pari Vasisht said...

Da, this surely is a quick to make and simple to try preparation with subtle flavours. Should go well with poori and rice.
FOODELICIOUS

Unknown said...

Hi,

Healthy recipe..great step by step presentation...Thanx for the lovely comments!

Dr.Sameena@

www.myeasytocookrecipes.blogspot.com
www.lovelypriyanka.blogspot.com

Hamaree Rasoi said...

Dear Ushnish Kaku

First of all thanks for acknowledging my small advise for your ghugni preparation. Color of the preparation looks awesome. Red chili is complementing very well.

Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi

Unknown said...

Dear Ushnishda, ei ghugni dkehlei amar boshontotshobe er kotha mone pore jae.....amar shokal bela abir khela hoe gele shobar barite pronam korte jetam...tokhon mishtir shathe ghugni chhilo common beshir bhag baritei....tai ghungni r shathe onek smriti joriye achhe.....

ami akta post korechhi somoy pele akbar dekhben aar janaben kamon laglo......

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

ghugni amader baddo priyo tabe ota thik bolechen seddho korata thikthak kore besh jhamelar. khub sundor hoeche aar sharmila ar Sharmila'r recipe sab khub miss kori.

Satrupa said...

Dear Ushnish Bhai,

Ghuguni is one of my favorite dishes. I luved it as a kid because I could escape eating greens on that day.
Puri and Ghuguni is a terrific combo ..... and your recipe is lip smacking good.

Cheers n Happy Cooking,
Satrupa

http://satrupa-foodforthought.blogspot.com

sangeeta said...

You got it right finally..
I thought you were joking really.
I like it simple and subtle and this recipe is just great.

Akila said...

looks so delicious dear...

http://akilaskitchen.blogspot.com

Adelina said...

looks very appetizing, dear recipe hunter :)! No need to have a zillion of ingredients to get great taste!

Satya said...

hello ushnish dada,
ghuguni looks soooo tempting ...yummy ..by seeing ur dish, now i am really missing cuttack's famous Alu dum dahi bora n ghuguni combination near stadium ...we group of friend used go there on our cycles n enjoy ,there that guy used to serve 2 varieties of dahi bora ,sweet n normal one ...we love the combo with topping of chopped onions ...wow..while writing this reply i drooling here ...thanks for bringing back my sweet memories ...have ag8 weekend ..

Satya
http://www.superyummyrecipes.com

Nandinis food said...

The ghugni is very aromatic and superb! I love the colour! Slurrp!

Nandini's Food Page

Unknown said...

What an easy and yummy dish! I LOVE all the ingredients, YUM!

aipi said...

hi ushnish da..I know it can be little tricky to cook it right..it came out perfect..just need to add some aloo tikki or make some puris and you are all set :)

US Masala

Sushma Mallya said...

simple yet really delicious..

Unknown said...

quick delicious dhal :)

Urmi said...

Ghughni looks colourful, delicious and tempting. My all time favourite and I can have ghughni at any time.

Fathima said...

Wow this looks delicious and has that homely look... I am sure it would have been a comforting dish!

Parita said...

The dish looks lovely!
how r u doing da?

Priya Suresh said...

White peas ghugni looks very tempting and flavourful..

SpicyTasty said...

That looks yummy.

Sharmila said...

ushnishda ... i know how frustrating it can be if you cannot get a recipe right ... and the taste stays in your mind all the while. am so glad you like this recipe and got your perfect ghugni. :)
deepa is right .. u have to get used to the kind of matar u use to get the boiling time right .. but underboiling is always better than overboiling ... tai na? u can always make it boil again. mangshor ghugni will have to have the usual onion ginger garlic combi. amar kache bhubaneswar er ekta loker darun ghugni recipe ache ... roj evening e rastar dhare bikri kore gorom gorom ... post korbo ekdin.
thanks for so many links and the nice words. :)

Sreelekha Sumesh said...

Never tried any dish with whitepeas.this looks so tempting!

Gouri Guha said...

Ushnishda, ghugni is a favourite in our home. I love to make ghugni chaat for the evening snack. It is important that the chola is not overcooked for that spoils the whole effort.

PreeOccupied said...

Ghugni ta shundor hoye che. I add a pinch of baking soda to cook it and of course pieces of narkol. Ki diye khele Kaku tumi ghugni ta? I don't like it with mangshor jhol though. For me a little bit of pyaaj kuchi, lonka and bhaja moshla and tamarind chutney suffices.

Urmi said...

Thanks for your lovely comment. I was not aware that Basa fish is available now in India and its similar to bacha fish. In Australia basa is very popular and the taste is very good.

Devasena Hariharan said...

simple and nice..

Anonymous said...

Da, thanks so much for the recipe...my husband wanted to eat it last week and all the recipes on internet are sooo confusing! Now I ll use an authetic one to try it!
Your site is nw my bible for bengali recipes.
Tanvi

Rumana Rawat said...

This really a great recipe, even my MIL makes wounder taste:)

Joyti said...

I dont think I've white peas before. The recipe looks delicious!

Indian food recipes said...

wow!luv the color of the dish..looks absolutely delicious!
the pbm was fixed...tnx

Vikis Kitchen said...

Dear Ushnish ji, I too like very simple recipes with lesser ingredients very much. I will try very soon. Very tempting dish. Technical details on cooking the white peas is great. I accept, its not as simple as it looks. After many trial and error I found a way.....soak for 30 to 60 minutes, then bring to a whistle, reduce flame to minimum and cook for 5 minutes. It will be done. Pressure and temp can be the same, but the water level is also a big deciding factor. If the peas is half way soaked then add more water to stand above the peas (1 inch)while pressure cooking. If completely soaked then the water should not immerse the peas:)
Your idea of double boiling is fantastic. Will be handy for me:)
I think we are making many experiments in the kitchen. After spoiling many batches of peas, I got upset and prepared it every week till hubby started panicking:) What to do , we are obsessed with these peas...right!

? said...

This is one of the trickier things to get perfect, more so for its simplicity! :-)
thankyou for all the tips!

Madhu said...

Lovely...I can have this for b'fast!

Shanthi Krishnakumar said...

It has come out so perfect in texture, would love to have it right now

Oriyarasoi said...

Good tips on boiling the peas...even i have to stuggle with it at times.