A pantry meal for crappy and happy days
White rice, chickpea flour stew called pithla and chile-crisp-like condiment aka mithbhurkaa
I pray Pithla bhaat and mithbhurkaa is my last supper. This is what I eat after a crappy day, happy day and on days, I don't want to use my brain cells.
Pithla is a stewy, lumpy or smooth, semi-solid dish made from chickpea flour, onions, green chile pepper and basic spices that fit into the masala dabba, aka spice box, of an Indian kitchen.
Bhaat means rice in Marathi, my mother tongue and it is invariably white rice. Brown rice, wild rice and red rice were not a part of the world where I grew up. And mithbhurkaa is a chili-crisp-like garlic condiment, freshly made, that is like a cherry on the icing on the cake.
Take a plate, not too heavy so you can hold it in your hand comfortably. Serve yourself smoking hot bhaat, pour pithla over it followed by a fat dollop of ghee and top with a spoonful of mithbhurkaa. Watching the ghee stream down the white steaming mound while pulsing with the delicious expectation of the impending feast is a pleasure of my life. Mix all the three and I am set for a night of over-eating and British crime show binging.
Despite this bluster, make no mistake, pithla bhaat, mithbhurkaa is barebones food of the masses, and farmers in Maharashtra, the western state of India that boasts Mumbai as its capital.
Pithla Bhaat is also strongly identified with the middle-class. Pop culture says the height of romance of a Maharashtrian couple is the husband stirring the spiced water and the wife pouring the chickpea flour, both the actions needing to be done simultaneously, while staring into each other’s eyes lovingly.
Pithla bhaat is beloved by the masses and classes because it’s a quick, delicious and a filling meal. Perfect to cook on autopilot, I remember, it was my mother’s only choice, after we returned home from a trip or after a long day of work.
Pithla requires minimal spices – turmeric, red chile powder and black mustard seeds and cumin seeds. There are different types of pithla but the result can be smooth, creamy pithla or a lumpy pithla, depending on the preparation. My parents hail from two neighboring towns across the state border, one in Maharashtra and the other in Telangana. Though cooking styles of these two regions are alike, my father’s side of the family makes a lumpy pithla and my mother’s makes a smooth one. Not to pick sides without picking one, I prefer the lumpy one with a coarse mouthfeel and texture as the chickpea flour is directly added to the boiling water.
On the other hand, the cooks from Telangana whisk chickpea flour with water till there are no lumps in a separate bowl before pouring into the boiling water. This leads to a velvety smooth pithla.
RECIPE - PITHLA
Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds, black or yellow
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/8 teaspoon asafetida (optional)
1 cup diced red onions, 1/2-inch pieces
2 pieces Thai chile peppers or 1 Serrano pepper, diced into round thin slices
1/2 cup chopped cilantro, divided
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/8 teaspoon red chile powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chickpea flour
Method
Pour oil into a thick bottomed sauté pan. Turn the heat to medium. After letting the oil heat for 2 to 3 minutes, add mustard and cumin seeds. Once these seeds hit the hot oil, they will start popping.
Add 1/8 teaspoon asafetida powder, 1 cup onions, slices of 2 thai chile peppers, half the cilantro once the popping stops. Now let the onions cook till they acquire a brown edge. This takes about 10 minutes on medium low. Don't hurry this step as it is the key to bringing out a subtle sweetness in the final dish.
Pour in 2 ¼ cups water. Combine in salt and red chile powder and let the mixture boil.
Once the mixture comes to a rolling boil, start adding chickpea flour. Pour in the flour with one hand and use a whisk to stir the flour into the water with the other hand. Try to smush the clumps as much as possible, but no need to decimate each and every clump. Some clumps are a part of the rustic appeal of this dish. Pour in ½ cup water to facilitate the boil.
Cover the pan with lid. Cook for 7-8 minutes with the lid. The chickpea flour should lose its raw taste and the pithla should come to a boil. Generally, the consistency is like that of a Texan chili. Add rest of the chopped cilantro.
Serve hot with white rice and ghee. Don't forget the side of mithbhurkaa.
RECIPE - WHITE RICE COOKED ON THE STOVETOP
Ingredients
1 cup basmati rice
2 1/4 cups room temperature water
Method
Wash 1 cup basmati rice under running water till water runs clean
Soak 1 cup water in 2 1/4 cups water for 20 minutes in a pot with lid
Place the pot on the stovetop with high heat (without the lid)
In 10 minutes, water will start boiling from the edges
In another 5 minutes, water will evaporate
Reduce the heat to medium and cover with a lid.
Turn off after 5 minutes.
Let rest for 10 min before serving.
RECIPE - MITHBHURKAA
Mithbhurkaa is essentially a quick chile crisp. You can substitute raw garlic with mithbhurkaa if you don’t mind the heat punch. Imagine the layers of flavor you are adding to the dish!
Ingredients
1 teaspoon roasted peanut powder
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon black mustard seeds
3 pieces fat garlic cloves peeled, diced into 1/4" pieces
1/2 teaspoon red chile powder
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
2 pinches salt
Cilantro for garnish (optional)
Method
Grind 1 tablespoon of store-bought roasted peanuts into a coarse powder. Since the quantity is so less, a mortar and pestle will also do the job of coarse grinding. One tablespoon of roasted peanuts will result in 1.5-slightly less than 2 tablespoons of peanut powder. Set the powder aside.
Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a small saucepan. Keep the heat at medium. After letting the oil heat for 2-3 min, add 1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds. As soon as mustard seeds start popping, add garlic pieces.
Turn the heat down from medium to low to avoid garlic from burning. Sauté the garlic pieces till they acquire a golden-brown edge. Do pay full attention at this stage to prevent garlic from burning.
Add 1/2 teaspoon red chile powder, 2 pinches salt, 1 teaspoon peanut powder, and 1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds. Turn the heat off after 2 minutes. Garnish with cilantro, if using it. Peanut powder and sesame seeds temper the heat and give the mithbhurkaa texture and body. If you are interested in pure, unadulterated heat, skip both.
Enjoy mithbhurkaa atop white rice and pithla. Or mix it the next day with cream cheese and spread it on your bagel. Or combine a drop or two with eggs before making a scrambled egg or omelet. Or add a dash to salad dressing for lunch. Or sprinkle the smushed avocado with mithburkaa in avocado toast. I have used it to jazz up my noodles. The possibilities are endless!
CHRONOLOGICAL COOKING ORDER
Take the rice in a pot, wash, drain and soak
Dice the onions, chile peppers, cilantro
Start making pithla
After the onions acquire brown edges, turn the rice heat on
Add water to the cooked onions
After the water starts boiling, reduce the rice heat to medium low
Add chickpea flour to the pithla and cover
Turn the rice heat off
Peel garlic cloves for mithbhurkaa
Turn the pithla heat off and keep covered
Prepare mithbhurkaa
TECHNIQUE – Roasting Onions
This technique came to me, of all the people, from my father. He is an infrequent cook who will enter the kitchen to cook one odd dish like pithla or a dal. According to him, pithla becomes kickass by slow roasting the onions in the tadka. Take a good 10-12 minutes on low to medium heat so the onions develop brown edges and impart a savory sweetness and overall, a cohesion of flavors to the final dish.
I learnt about this technique recently when I was cribbing to my mother about my pithla not coming anywhere close to hers. That’s when inadvertently she spilled the beans about how my father taught her this trick. I almost fell out of my chair at this unlikely teaching.
I have adapted this technique for all the dishes that begin with roasting onions in fat like chhole and palak paneer. It will work particularly well for pasta sauces and bean soups.
The next meal of ChutneyLovers is Saucy Black Eyed Peas with Stewed Tomatoes and Spices. Pair it with rice, toasted and buttered bread roll, warmed up pita or lavash. Or eat them solo topped with chopped cucumbers, tomatoes and cilantro (diced onions are great too).
Did you make chai or Bombay Sandwich? Do you have any questions, comments, concerns? Would you like me to make a recipe you’ve been wanting to try? Do get in touch. I would love to hear from you.
Looks delicious! Love the photos!
This looks so impressive! Loved the detailing of the dish/recipe. All the very best to you.