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jamvanu Recipes from Ben’s kitchen
જમવાનુ
All rights reserved by author and publisher. No portion of this book shall be reproduced, stored or transmitted by any means. Special credits to My mother Dipali Shah for helping me coallate all this information into a book.
Ben
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Jamvanu, brings together my grandmothers recipes through her stories, who is lovingly known as Ben Jamvanu (pronounced as “Jum-Vaa-nu”) “meal” in Gujarati. Ben (Pronounced as “Bae-n”).
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BE V ER AGE T H AN DAI - 08
S N ACK S S A B U D AN A P AP AD - 1 2 K HA MA N DH OK L A - 1 4 L I L A P OH A - 1 6 CH IW DA - 1 8
M EALS MA S A LA B H AAT - 22 HA N DVO - 24 S A MB HA RYA N U SH AAK - 26
DES S ERT S O B HAGSU NT - 30
MED I CI N E S ITO PH AL ADI - 34
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A TRIP INTO BEN’S KITCHEN. If you get a trip into her kitchen you know you’re lucky. Fresh after a bath and pleading her to let me in, I finally made it. As I browsed around I noticed a stick dividing her platforms into two halves. I asked her why it was so? To which she said; One half of the platform is where I cook and one is where I prepared things for God. “When you make anything for God it needs to be pure and clean, we can’t have vessles that are dirty, or chopped vegetables there. So for my God I make sure I organize every thing and serve with him a pure heart to receive his blessings. Keeping things organized also keeps your mind clean.
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B E VER AGE S
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THANDAI Directions
Serves 4 Prep time : 15 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes
1. Soak varayali and grind to a smooth paste. 2. Sieve with fine muslin cloth 3. Grind all the rest of the ingredients
100 grams variyali (Fennel seeds) 20 grams khus khus (White poppy) 50 grams soaked almonds (Ground to powder) 8 grams black pepper 20 grams Elaichi (cardamom) Rose petals a few saffron strands
4. Use this as a powder for each serving. Serving 1. Add to milk and add Sugar as per taste. 2. Serve chilled with sliced almonds.
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A SIGNIFICANT SKILL FOR COOKING “As a woman in my youth it was necessary for us to learn how to cook and feed the people of my family, and so I had been in the kitchen since I was a little girl. One thing I learn there from my grandmother was when you cook, if you pray or think with purity it will always reflect in your cooking. So whenever I cook I chant in my mind, and this helps me keep peace of mind and the days I don’t, the food is never as good.”
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S N A CK S
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SABUDANA PAPAD Directions
Serves 4 Prep time : 15 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes 5kg Potato.
1. Mix all ingredients with salt and make small balls. 2. Press with roti maker in to thin 4 inch papad.
1kg sago (Sabudana) finely ground. 1/4 kg green chilly, ground to paste. Small piece of ginger mixed with chilly.
3. Sun dry for 6-8 hours on a plastic sheet. Overturn and dry again for two-three days till crisp. 4. Heat oil and fry till golden.
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KHAMAN DHOKLA Directions
Serves 4 Prep time : 15 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes
1. Mix water and atta to make a thick batter. Add sugar, citric acid, and turmeric. 2. Take a deep heat proof bowl enough to fit a plate. Add water, let it boil.
1 cup channa atta 3/4 cup water ½ tsp salt ½ tsp citric acid crystal Hing ½ tsp soda 2 spoons sugar
3. Place a small wire rack in the water. 4. Take a greased plate, pour batter into it add soda and stir quickly. 5. Put plates inside and cover the vessel and let steam for 8-10 minutes, on a medium flame. Dhokla is ready now. Make 1 spoon sugar water with 2 spoons water and sprinkle on dhokla and let it soak cover it. Add mustard seeds sesame seed curry leaves crackle, desiccated coconut, slit green chilly, and sprinkle before serving.
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LILA POHA Directions
Serves 4 Prep time : 15 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes
Soak 2 cups poha in a little water. Make sure it is not lumpy. Put Mustard seeds in hot oil and let it crackle, add paste and hing.
2 cups poha Water Mustard Seeds Green chilly Ginger Hing Lemon Sugar Make a paste of green chilly and ginger.
Add lemon sugar and salt to poha and add the spice mix. Optional: you can add soaked dalia (pandarpuri dal), and coriander on top. Eat when hot.
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CHI WDA Directions
Serves 4 Prep time : 15 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes 2 cup Thin Poha (Flattened rice) 1 cup vegetable oil Dalia (Pandarpuri dal) 1/4 cup Peanuts Raisins Cashew Cinnamon Khus-Khus
1. Roast the poha on a slow flame till crisp. 2. Heat oil, fry peanuts, cashew. Add pandarpuri dal and raisins in oil for30 seconds only. 3. Keep extra oil aside. 4. In the remaining oil add mustard seeds let it crackle, add sesame seeds curry leaves, slit green chilly, khus khus. 5. Immediately take it off heat and add all ingredients to the poha. 6. Mix salt, red chilly, turmeric, powdered sugar in the poha, and mix well
Coconut Lots of Curry Leaves
5. If dry add remaining oil.
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NEVER FEAR QUANTITY One day when I returned home from the temple, I found out just an hour before lunch that there wasn’t enough dal soaked for me to feed the entire family. In that moment I put everything in 4 pots on all stoves running and cooked a whole lunch without anyone finding about it. From the day I got married, I had to cook for 3035 people on a daily basis. In the beginning it was intimidating but over a period of time it wasn’t that hard. All it required was some rules, and the optimism that it is possible. Between two of us we started taking turns and would cook two meals each day. Always remember when you have to feed lots of people, no burner should be left unused. Heat water if you need to so you can cook something fast.
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ME ALS
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MASALA BHAAT Directions
Serves 4 Prep time : 15 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes
1. Soak the rice in water and keep aside 2. In a small vessel heat oil and add mustard seeds and wait till they crackle. Put in the cinnamon clove and hing in it and take it off heat.
1 cup rice 4 cups water Mustard Seeds Hing Cinnamon Clove Dhana Jeera (Coriander Cumin powder) Turmeric Chilly Powder 1/2 cup Peas
3. Mix spices and put it in the oil and stir. 4. Heat 2 cups of water and add let it boil, add soaked rice to it. 5. Add vegetables, spices and rice in a cooker, for 1-2 whistles. Serve hot with curd, pickle and papad. Important: Put the spices in the oil mixture only after taking it off the heat, or it could burn and leave an odor.
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HANDVO Preparing the Batter
Serves four Prep time : 8 hours Cook time: 30 minutes
1. Grind the grains and pulses to make the flour. Soak in buttermilk along with oil two to three spoons of oil. 2. Keep for 8 hours to ferment.
3 cups rice 1/2 cup udad dal 1/2 cup Tovar Dal Butter milk Green chilly (To taste) Corriander leaves 100 grams bottle gourd Mustard seeds Curry leaves
3. Add other ingredients and mix well. Cooking 1. Heat low bottom pan and add two tsp oil 2. Add batter and let it cook on slow flame for 20 minutes. 3. Invert and cook on other side till dark brown. 4. Serve hot with buttermilk or pickle.
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SAMBHARYU NU SHAAK Directions
Serves 4 Prep time : 15 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes 100 gms sweet potato 100 gms potato 100 gms capsicum 100 gms brinjal 1 cup peanut powder 1 /2 cup dhana -jeera powder (Corriander cumin) Chilly powder Garam Masala
1. In a Kadai add 1-2 tsp oil and heat it. 2. Add vegetables, cover with a plate and cook on slow flame till soft. 3. Add masala, sugar and salt to taste and add some water. 4. Mix well and let it cook for a few minutes. Serve Hot with phulkas.
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ALWAYS BE PREPARED Ben: I have never eaten anything outside all my life but went on many trips. I always carried my own food everywhere in my own ways. Like Lila Poha with the masal packed in a small box that is kept inside the poha. Such tricks and food always come handy, you never know what can happen. I taught all my friends and family to do this and people have thanked me again and again for the same. Knowing how to cook a little and preparing that in times of need will always help you no matter what.
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D ESSE RT
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SOBHAGSUNTH Directions
Serves 4 Prep time : 15 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes
Powder all dry fruits and sieve through same size. Do not over crush. Roast mava in a pan till it becomes with ghee till it gets a golden color
250 gms Almond Powder 250 gms Dry ginger powder (Soonth) 125 gms Green Pistachio 60gms Charoli ½-3/4 kg Approx Ghee 1kg mava ½-2 Sugar 25gms Elaichi 10 gms Cinnamon 10 gms Clove 10gms White pepper 2 full Nutmeg powdered 5 gms Javantri (mace spices) 2 ½ gms Kesar
Roast dry fruits slightly and add to mava On another pot make a sugar syrup (Chashni) until it is thick. (Tip: put a drop on a flat platform if it holds shape It is of the right consistency)
Add all spices to sugar syrup. Mix everything into the mava, and keep aside. Till cools down. Transfer to plate. Add dry fruits thinly sliced on top such as almonds, pistachio etc. and cut it. Important: Amount of Ghee should be adjusted according to mava. Add less soonth if you want it to be less spicy
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NEVER LET ANYTHING GO WASTE One fine day, we had to make dhokla for everyone in the family so me and masi soaked the ingredients it and went to bed. Only to wake up next morning to see that because of the horrible summer heat, the entire batter was over-fermented and sour. In a split second I knew that I could not let this go waste, it costed a lot and the family would go hungry. Just then quickly I threw hot milk and dal and mixed it all and turned out those were the best I had ever made. Always understand the ingredient you are using to its best, so if something goes wrong you know what you should add to make it right. Never let anything go waste.
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M ED ICINE
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SITOPHALA DI Directions
Serves 4 Prep time : 15 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes 100 gms cinnamon
1. Grind the cinnamon, pepper and elaichi into a powder. 2. Add the vanslochan.
100 gms rock sugar (Khadi sakhar) 80 gms vanslochan
3. Mix sugar and store in container.
40 gms lindi pipper (long pepper) 20 gms elaichi
Used for fever, sore throat and cough.
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Everyone who has known her has a story to tell, about the art she created behind the stove. Whether it is cooking for 50 people in ten minutes or making 12 kilos of chiwda alone. Her experience, willpower and strength has been monumental, to watch and hear about. This book is a dedication to her, for teaching, passing her experience, and reminding us the importance food and family through the years. Coallated, Photographed and Designed by Ria Shah
