Indian culture is famous for its diversity in everything. The food here is one of the most adored things. Ancient Indian recipes had an original zest to them, which inspired many other new dishes. The western wave has made us lose touch with heirloom recipes. It is our responsibility to keep them alive.
PHULKARI PULAO
Being grown up in an Indian family means that we all have seen the rich culture and all the food it has to offer. There is a forgotten recipe that we might have only eaten once. The Phulkari Pulao is a lost recipe from Punjab. This dish is made with four different types of rice and you can choose from a variety of Indian rice. One can use Dehradun rice or Gobindobhog rice, Seeraga Samba, Sona Masuri, Ambemohar Radhuni Pagol or Tulaipanji. A combination of any four of these rice will give you the best Phulkari Pulao.
Ingredients
- Half cup of any four rice mentioned above
- One cup cashew nuts and raisins
- One cup poppy seeds
- Half cup mawa
- Hot milk
- Paneer
- Carrots
- Peas
- Ghee and salt to taste
- Spices: Bay leaf, cinnamon sticks, cardamom, cloves and peppercorn.
How to make
- Cook rice and poppy seeds until they are almost cooked.
- Lay out the rice so that it can cool down for about twenty to twenty-five minutes.
- Roast all the spices on a low flame in a wok with ghee.
- Then add cashews and raisins until they turn brown.
- Now add mawa and paneer and cook until the paneer develops a brown coating.
- Now cook all this along with carrots and peas.
- Add rice to the wok and cook for about five minutes with constant stirring.
- Add milk and salt and let the rice simmer.
- Put off the heat. Rest the rice for some time.
- You can serve the phulkari pulao with curry or curd.
Enjoy this authentic Punjabi meal and get in touch with the roots of this amazing culture.
AKTORI
The hills have a different and peaceful feel to them. We assure you that the food in the hills is pure bliss. Aktori is an ancient Himachali sweet that has been going extinct. It takes about half an hour to make.
Ingredients
- Wheat flour
- Sugar
- Milk
- Refined oil
- Buckwheat
- Baking soda
- Water
How to make
- Mix whole wheat and buckwheat in a bowl. Make a thick batter by adding water and milk to it. Avoid any formation of lumps.
- Add sugar and baking soda to the batter and leave it for about fifteen minutes.
- Now heat refined oil in a pan. Add small proportions of the batter to the pan and cook on low flame so that the insides are cooked evenly.
- Drain the excess oil by putting it on tissue paper. Serve the sweet.
Day by day, we are losing touch with our rich culture. With the fast development of fast food chains, people are more focused on junk food rather than eating the ancient dishes which make our culture very rich. We should try to keep this culture alive. One should try to keep these ancient recipes alive by trying them in their kitchen.