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Pushpesh Pant offers a range of sizzlers from the griddle for vegetarians
For long, we had wondered why has no one thought of giving a fair tawa deal to the vegetarians. Imagine our delight, when during a recent marriage in the family we were treated to tawa subzies ‘done to individual taste’. The only problem was that the performing maharaj, belonging to the old school, exceptionally was generous with the desi ghee and certainly on the payroll of a branded garam masala maker — all the vegetables tasted alike. Anyway, we did not have to wait long for the real thing. At the Punjabi by Nature in the Priya complex in Delhi we have come across an acceptable variation on the tawa-sizzler theme. What the chef does is to mostly use what are so quaintly referred to as English vegetables — broccoli, baby corns and blend them with Madras onions, simla mirch, paneer and bhindi. For good measure, some sweet peas were thrown in. In this melange, only the okra retained the desi look. The vegetables were served in a bed of delicately spiced tomato gravy — most retained a nice crunchy bite, and best of all one could sprinkle the spice of choice as per taste. For us, this dish sure beats the clichéd subzee punj ratnee hands down. The dish was wonderfully light — just what the doctor prescribed for the scorching summer. We strongly recommend this rainbow repast. The stunning beauty can be
paired equally well with rice or roti. Undercook it and don’t have a
salad or change the tomato base with a yoghurt drape. Most like it hot
but some prefer it cold.
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Tawa,
the good old griddle, is for the most of us, the utensil indispensable
for unleavened Indian breads like chapatti or roti, these are prepared
on it. The more exotic khameeri, naan, kulche, shirmal are
produced in the tandoor. And, everyone knows that the fancier roomali
requires reversing the tawa. Titanic flat tawa are employed to do
the tikkis to perfection or to shallow fry mouth-watering
paranthas. These have been adapted by the imaginative dhabhawala for
years to dish out delicacies like tawe ke tikke or taka tin
fashioned with boti, kaleji, gurde et al chopped fine with a
sharp-edged spatula served in piquant tomato-onion based sauce like
gravy. It is this same instrument that is applied to create a
quasi-musical din-taka tin, taka tin to attract the diners.
