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Holi is the festival of colours and it is in fitness of things that the food consumed after frolicking with abir-gulal should also be multi-hued. Surprsingly, festive fare is often monochromatic - be it gujiya, thandai or namakin matthi or matar. The lazy lunch that follows the bath is mostly restricted to karhi chawal or similar no-frill one-dish meal because every one avoids kitchen chores. Tri-colour barfi is reserved for patriotic reasons for August 15 and January 26. We have food-loving friends who never give up and have come up with a delightful rainbow-tinted light vegetarian rice dish that we can't resist naming pichkari pulav. Easy to prepare, the most remarkable thing about this recipe is that no artificial colours, flavours or aromatic agents are used. Inspired by the Awadhi classic, Sheeshranga this we feel provides the perfect finale to joyous celebrations. Chakh ke dekho, Holi hai! A bowl of dahi or raita completes bliss. Pichkari pulav Ingredients
Carrots (pureed in a blender) 100 g Beetroot (pureed in a blender) 100 g Spinach (pureed in a blender) 200 g Fresh coriander(chopped fine then A large sprig pureed in a blender) Mint(chopped fine then pureed Small sprig in a blender) Green chillies (deseeded, Two to three blended with spinach) Ginger-garlic paste 1 tsp Turmeric powder ½ tsp Red chilly powder ½ tsp Cumin powder 1/tsp Clove powder ¼ tsp Cinnamon powder ¼ tsp Cardamom powder ¼ tsp Butter/oil 1 tbsp Salt to taste Method Divide rice in five equal parts and cook, separately-covered, on a medium flame in a small pan with three different purees without adding any water stirring intermittently and sprinkling very little water if required. Stir in a little butter if the rice appears to stick to the bottom. Add the ginger- garlic paste alongwith cumin powder to the green puree, powdered cloves and cinnamon to violet beetroot puree and the chilly powder to the carrot puree. Turmeric-touched rice gets the cardamom powder. Sprinkle salt to taste to each lot. Boil one part with turmeric and other as plain boiled rice. When the "five-hued rice" is done, arrange it like pizza slices on a flat plate, garnish as you wish and enjoy. Cottage cheese with a difference there was a time when steaks were exotic — prohibited and prohibitive at the same time. Prepared with meat, taboo for the majority community in the land, mouth-watering descriptions of rare, medium or well done sounded sinful and tempting. The more adventurous tried to substitute beef with chicken and mutton but to put it mildly always tasted fake. We had an uncle —vegetarian and cussed (no cause-and-effect relationship suggested!) who took great delight in our misery. There was at least something that the Carnivores couldn't enjoy all by themselves, excluding him. We missed him much when a friend treated us to paneer ki silli that is nothing if not a quintessential vegetarian steak. To be honest, the name "at first sound" jarred a bit — it echoed as silly but our host has pretensions of poetic taste and often hums Yara sili sili, penned by Gulzar Saab no less and educated us about various other literary references that we felt was taking undue license. He persisted with the argument that what we called steak, in fact looked unmistakably like a miniature slab of ice or for that matter (grinding?) stone. The stuff tasted very good and we let it pass. When time came to share this with you, we felt that he should be given his due. Thanks old man, Paneer ki silli Ingredients
Thick curds 100 ml Coriander powder 2 tsp Chilly powder (mix of 1 tsp red Kashmiri and common variety) Turmeric powder (optional) ½ tsp Black rock salt ¼ tsp Ginger-garlic paste 1 tbsp Dried anardana (powdered) A large pinch Salt To taste Oil 1 tbsp Method Prepare a marinade by mixing all the ingredients, except the paneer, in a bowl. Gently place the paneer steaks in it and ensure that they are well coated. Line a thick-bottomed non-stick pan with a thin film of oil and pan grill the steaks on medium flame one by one for two minutes or till "done to taste", on each side pressing gently but firmly with a wooden spatula. Reserve the marinade residue. Cook the marinade on very low flame stirring briskly all the while to prepare a sauce if you wish to drape the steak with it. Those who have no problems with onions can enrich it with deep fried and crumbled onions. Serve with mélange of assorted boiled or stir-fried vegetables of choice.
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Basmati rice (Picked,
washed, soaked in water for half an hour and spread out to dry) 500 g
Paneer cut cleanly in
flat 1-1/2- inch thick slabs 500 gm