The Story Of Coffee in India

                             THE PARSI CUISINE

 The Parsi community of India is one of the community, which is just closest to my Heart, as not because they have contributed to India in every aspect and adopted this land as their mother land by their inner selves and this can be seen in their patriotism towards India, and I do not want to further detail this relation because  they are also the children of mother India like other communities. 

                            firstly, I would like talk about the history of parsi people or  as per the Qissa-i-sanjan, parsis migrated from Sasanian Empire (Iran) to Gujarat (India) and this was the 8th or 9th century. This migration was whole taken place due to the repression of Qajar Dynasty in Iran. They come into two parts and two different groups in India First one was called the parsi community and the second one are called Iranis. The migrant group first landed onto the western coast of India in Gujarat. There is famous story behind the first settlement of parsis in India, when the priest from parsi community gone to court of Indian King Jadi Rana to take refugee in their province, he expressed his motive by taking a pot of milk and sugar, he takes some sugar and add it to the milk pot and dissolve it and told the king that like the sugar dissolved in milk as our community will dissolve into your state and make it prosperous and wealthy, like the sweetness of sugar in milk King was so inspired by the generous thought of the priest he gave their community refugee in his state, with three simple conditions 1.They have to speak in their regional language. 2.They have adopt their marriage customs and traditional clothing 3. They cannot bear Arms and they have agreed on all of the conditions and from here the journey of Parsies started in India. They have grown and prosper with growth and culture of India. This amalgamation may also be seen in the food of parsi community.

                         The food of Parsi people generally have the root from Iran but, After landed to India they have adopted the traditional herbs, spices and other ingredients generally used by the existing communities of India. It is a fact that Parsies are very fun loving people. They usually focus more on the taste of the food rather than its health benefits (The food should taste Good), but moreover the parsi cuisine contains the more amount of rich and expensive ingredients such as saffron, dry fruits, Cardamom etc are some of them. There is another interesting fact that is the maximum amount of number of dishes in parsi cuisine are Non vegetarian. In more simple sense they believe that, the body should not suffer at any means by fasting or eating. As soon as I will share with you the recipes, You will have the idea how astonishing and rich the parsi cuisine is. 

                         So, starting with the dishes of parsi cuisine, which can be tried out on any Parsi Restaurant & Parsi home or you can also try it out at your home. 

MASALA  AKURI:-

Its an egg based dish made with the help of some vegetables, quite an nice dish where you will get an smooth, creamy Flowey consistency of the masala Akuri. 

Starting with the dish firstly we will chop off  all the vegetables onion, tomato, garlic, fresh green coriander and green chilies and after that take no of eggs.

1. Firstly take a pan add some oil while heating it a min.

2. Then add onion sauté it for some time, till it changes its color. 

3. After that add the remaining vegetables, Sauté them for 5-7 min and gently pressing the vegetables to get a smooth consistency. 

4. Add the whole eggs ( yolk+ white) in the mixture gently stirring on low flame.

5. stir till the Akuri reaches to its traditional consistency, smooth and Flowey.

6. Serve hot and enjoy with Buttered bread, roti or Bun (Bun Maska).

PATRANI MACCHI:-

One of most loved and prominent dish of parsi cuisine, In which fish pomfret is been used used.

For green chutney:-

some grated coconut; 200 gm 

one large bunch of coriander, 4-5 Green chillies 

6-8 no of garlic cloves, 1 heaped spoon of  cumin seeds

1 teaspoon of caster sugar, 1 lime and small lemon 

1 large bunch of  mint leaves.

marinate while rubbing the fish with salt and turmeric and leave it for some time. Then grind grated coconut with all the remaining ingredients mentioned for chutney preparation. Blend it until you would get a smooth paste. apply the green paste on the fish, but firstly cut the banana leaves in size so that, a fish could easily wrapped in it. after cutting the leaves of banana just show the leaves some flames and start wrapping the fish and tie it with the help of  a cooking thread. and at last just put the fish inside a steamer or in the oven and steam it until soft (for 20 minutes) take out the fish  from the oven or steamer, cut or untie  the banana leaf wrapping and serve it in the banana leaf. 

                                  LAGAN SARA NU ISTEW: 

50 gm carrots
50 gm sweet potatoes
50 gm yams
50 gm potatoes
50 gm green peas
50 gm tomatoes
30 gm coriander leaves, divided usage
5 gm turmeric powder
5 gm red chilli powder
5 gm Parsi sambar powder
5 gm ginger-garlic paste
5 ml vinegar
10 ml oil to cook
10 gm sugar
Salt to taste
Oil to deep-fry
20 gm raisins, divided usage
10 gm cashew nuts, for garnishing

Process: 

• To begin by making the Parsi Style Lagan Sarai Istew Recipe in a pressure cooker add carrots, baby potatoes and elephant yam with 1 cup water and salt for about 1 whistle. Set aside to release the pressure naturally. 

• In a small bowl soak the raisins and jaggery in vinegar. Keep it aside to rest. 

• Next is to heat a small shallow pan, add oil, saute the onions and tomato with little salt, cook until the tomatoes turn soft. Let it cool, and blend into a smooth paste in a hand blender. 

• Heat a heavy bottomed pan with oil, saute the vegetables that have been cooked first till it becomes crisp little. Remove the vegetables and in the same oil add the ginger, garlic, and chillies.

• Add in the blended paste along with turmeric powder, red chilli powder, dhansak masala powder and add the soaked raisins and dates along with the vinegar and jaggery. Check for the seasoning.  

• Finally, add in the vegetables along with the peas and add 1 cup water and reduce the heat. Cook it over low heat for about 10 minutes till the vegetables are well cooked. Once done Garnish Parsi Style Lagan Sara Istew with chopped coriander leaves and serve.

• Serve the Parsi Style Lagan Sara Istew Recipe with Whole Wheat Lachha Paratha Recipe and Beetroot, Carrot & Cucumber Salad With Peanuts for a wholesome dinner meal.

Salli Boti 

Red Color sizzling hot recipe of mutton cooked by using traditional spices and garnished with golden fried potato sticks which you can't resist taking a sip of spoon. 

Ingredients

• 4-5 Tbsp of oil
• 1 bowl of chopped onions
• 2 Tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 300 gm of boneless mutton or chicken
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
• 1 1/2 tsp roasted coriander
• 1 1/2 cumin powder
• 1 bowl of chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp sugar (optional)
• 2 tsp vinegar
• (optional)
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 3 tsp chopped coriander
• 1 bowl of Sali/fine potato shreds
• Salt to taste

Method

• Heat the oil in a pan and add onions to it.
• Fry till turn golden brown
• Add ginger-garlic paste, mutton, red chilli powder and turmeric powder.
• Mix well.
• Now mix in the the roasted coriander powder, cumin powder followed by tomatoes, stir again.
• Add a little sugar and vinegar to taste.
• Add garam masala and salt, mix well.
• Reduce the flame and cover till cooked for about 30 to 40 minutes.
• Add chopped coriander and give it a final stir.
• Garnish it with more coriander leaves and top it up with lots of Sali.

In Parsi the salli are known as the potato fried golden in color spread as an garnish on the final dish before serving. 

                                    Lagan nu custard

    

Now Coming to the dessert one of the prominent and traditional mouth watering dessert is Lagan nu custard made with the some patience and consistency. Now, going no where and directly going to the recipe. 

Before stated making the dish let us gather the ingredients like cardamom powder, rose essence, dry fruits (almonds), Milk etc. 

Ingredients: 

25 grams almonds, (about 3 tablespoons) plus 1 teaspoon for garnish, soaked overnight and finely sliced
25 grams pistachios (pista), (about 3 tablespoons) plus 1 teaspoon for garnish, soaked overnight and finely sliced
25 grams chironji (charoli), about 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon for garnish
1⁄2 teaspoon butter, to butter baking dish

1 liter milk, (4 cups full-cream or whole milk)
150 grams sugar, (about ¾ cup granulated sugar)
1⁄4 teaspoon nutmeg powder
1⁄4 teaspoon green cardamom powder
4 eggs
250 ml cream
1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Process: 

• Reduce milk: Place a heavy nonstick saucepan on medium heat and pour in milk. Bring milk to a boil then reduce heat. Add sugar and stir till dissolved. Simmer, stirring often, till the milk has reduced to half the original quantity, 30 to 35 minutes. Remember to stir often while reducing the milk as you do not want it to catch the bottom of the pan.  Toss in nutmeg powder and green cardamom powder, stir and simmer for another 2 minutes, stirring. Remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature. Note that you can place the pan in an ice bath if you want to cool it quickly.
•  
• Preheat the oven to 200°Celsius / 390°Fahrenheit
   
• Whisk eggs and cream: Crack four eggs into a large bowl. Whisk till frothy. Pour cream into the eggs and beat gently till mixed. Add vanilla extract, 3 tablesoons slivered almonds, 3 tablespoons slivered pistachio (pista), and 2 tablespoons charoli (chironji). Mix well till combined.
   
• Add milk: Pour reduced milk into the egg and cream mixture and beat gently once again. Transfer the custard mixture into buttered baking dish.
   
• Bake in the preheated oven at 200°C / 390°F till the custard has set and some dark caramelization spots are visible close to the edge of the dish, 28 to 30 minutes. Turn the oven off. Remove from the oven and garmish with the remaining almods, pistachio, and charoli (chironji). Please the dish back in the oven (the oven is off) for about 5 minutes. Then remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
   
• Once the lagan nu custard has cooled completely to room temperature, cover the baking dish with plastic cling wrap and place in the refrigerator for 4 hours to overnight for the custard to set and the flavours to blend.
   
• Serve chilled or at room temperature.
  

This is an blog dedicated to the cuisine of an particular community of India an personal favorite of mine. stay connected for more interesting blogs on food, travel and History.