Culinary Chronicles
By Yasmin Rahul Bakshi
The Bollywood motion picture – ‘Uri, a Surgical Strike’ was a soul touching story on the reel of the real life unsung heroes. For anyone without the uniform it is a mere tale over which they may get poignant and drop some tears but I relate to the sequences for I have experienced a similar situation in life.
Long ago when the media and technology was not this strong, Tiger led a surgical strike right inside the enemy grounds. Not once but four times!
No choppers, night vision or communication devices, all that this border action team of three carried with them were the arms, ammunition and valour. The future was uncertain yet nothing could stop them for patriotism and the line of duty. What they were aware of was, if they were captured or martyred across the border, no would come to their rescue or claim their mortal remains. They would be labelled as infiltrators in the country of the green flag.
The mission was kept classified while I slept comfortably, blind to the danger after a hearty meal of his favourite food of “Rajma Gogji and Rice”. I, like the rest of the compatriots, was in the secure zone, unaware of the hazards that were en route.
The road to the enemy country was challenging. The team walked through the glacier, on ninety degrees of ice walls in negative fifty degrees of temperature, camouflaged from the foes.
Valiant action with heavy firing and explosions occurred. He succeeded in blowing up a number of enemy posts and their men. The mission was a triumph but my Hero was wounded while returning in pursuit of saving a team member, yet he walked on his legs. They all arrived alive. Those wounds till date persist and make me proud of his courage.
Decades have passed by yet each time I cook this dish, the flashback resurfaces. Blessed, that today we can sit together to eat and so are the rest who are safeguarded by the real life Heroes.
Many stories of such unsung valour remain under cover.
Ingredients:
- Rajma – 250 gms (the red variety)
- Salt – according to taste
- Green cardamom – 5
- Black cardamom – 3
- Cinnamon – ½ inch
- Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
- Fennel powder – 2 tsp
- Dry ginger powder – 1 tsp
- Asafoetida – 2 pinch
- Fresh tomato puree – 1 cup (or replace with whipped curd)
- Onion – 1 cup (julienned)
- Turnips – 3 (medium size)
- Mustard oil – for frying
- Kashmiri varr masala – 1 Tsp
- Desi ghee – 2 Tbsp
Method:
(Adding onions and tomatoes are optional in this recipe)
- Soak the rajma overnight. Discard the water.
- In fresh water, pressure cook the soaked rajma with salt, green and black cardamom, cinnamon and turmeric powder until cooked.
- Fry the julienned onions until crisp and golden brown.
- Peel the turnips and cut into wedges and fry until golden.
- Make a fine paste with the fried onions by adding some water.
- Dissolve the fennel powder, dry ginger powder, asafoetida and Kashmiri varr masala in little water.
- Heat a little mustard oil in a pan, add in the dissolved masala. Cook over a slow flame, ensuring that it doesn’t burn.
- Let the oil separate, now add in the tomato puree or whipped curd, fried onion paste.
- Cook until the oil surfaces up.
- Add this masala, fried onion paste and the fried turnip wedges to the boiled rajma in the pressure cooker.
- Pressure cook (1 whistle) for the turnips to get tender.
- Serve hot with rice, topped with desi ghee.
(Yasmin Rahul Bakshi is a food historian and an accomplished senior consultant Chef. A widely travelled Army wife from the Mussoorie hills with exposure to international cuisines & preserving recipes with the medium of food photography and digital content creation in the form of stories.)
