Pavani April 8, 2014 28 Comments

Blogging Marathon# 39 – Indian States: Day 8
State: Gujarat
Dish: Mini Gujarati Thali

Gujarat is a state in the North-Western coast of India. It is known locally as Jewel of the West. Gujarat is the home of many many freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, successful entreprenuers like Dhirubhai Ambani (Reliance Industries), Azim Premji (Wipro Limited) and Jamsetji Tata. Gujarat played an important role in the economic history of India.

Cuisine: Gujarat is primarily a vegetarian cuisine due to the influence of Jain vegetarianism and traditional Hinduism. When i think of Gujarat, I think of the wide variety of dishes they have. There are so many snack items, so many breads, so many of everything. Gujaratis travel with bags full of snacks wherever they go and most of them are probably homemade. Adding a little sugar or jaggery to some of the dishes is common in Gujarat, the sweet flavor is believed to neutralize the slightly bland taste of the vegetables. Sweets (desserts) are extremely popular too in Gujarat.

Staple Food: Wheat, Rice, Lentils


Specialties: There are hundreds of Gujarati specialties, here are a few: Handvo, Muthia, Patra, Undhiyu, Khandvi, Dhokla, Kachori so on and so on.

Today’s Dish(es): I wanted to try more than one dish from this amazing cuisine and with the time I had, I made a mini thali with simple and everyday Gujarati dishes. I have some good Gujarati friends and was lucky enough to enjoy their delicious home cooked dishes. Most of the dishes look so simple to make, but they are tricky and need some practice to make them perfect like Khandvi, Dhokla, Handvo etc.

Vegetarian Thali
Vegetarian Thali

For my thali, here’s what I made:

  • Simple Gujarati Bhindi nu shaak (Okra Curry)
  • Sev Tamatar nu Shaak (Tomato Curry)
  • Gujarati Aloo nu shaak (Potato curry)
  • Gujarati Osaman Dal
  • Lauki Muthiya
  • Jeera Rice
    Vegetarian Thali

    Gujarati Bhindi nu Shaak: I added spices that my Gujarati friends used to use in their dry curry recipes to make this simple curry.

    Gujarati Okra fry

Gujarati Bhindi nu Shaak

  • Servings: 23-serving
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Hearty & comforting vegetarian mini meal from Gujarat. Thali consists of Simple Gujarati Bhindi nu shaak (Okra Curry), Sev Tamatar nu Shaak (Tomato Curry), Gujarati Aloo nu shaak (Potato curry), Gujarati Osaman Dal, Lauki Muthiya, Jeera Rice.

Summary

  • Cuisine: gujarati
  • Style of Preparation: Vegan
  • Course: side dish
  • Preparation Time: 20 mins
  • Cooking Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

12 ~ 15 Okra – washed, dried and chopped (I used frozen okra)
½ tsp Ground Coriander
½ tsp Ground Cumin
½ tsp Red Chili powder
½ tsp Garam Masala
½ tsp Cumin seeds
½ tsp Mustard seeds
to taste Salt

Steps

  1. Heat 1tbsp oil in a nonstick skillet; add the cumin and mustard seeds and once the seeds start to splutter, add the okra and mix well. Cook until okra is cooked through and slightly crispy around the edges.
  2. Add all the dry masalas and mix well, cook for another 1~2 minutes.

Gujarati Okra Curry

Sev Tamatar nu Shaak: Recipe courtesy Rajani @ mykitchentrials.

Sev Tamatar nu Shaak

  • Servings: 23-serving
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Hearty & comforting vegetarian mini meal from Gujarat. Thali consists of Simple Gujarati Bhindi nu shaak (Okra Curry), Sev Tamatar nu Shaak (Tomato Curry), Gujarati Aloo nu shaak (Potato curry), Gujarati Osaman Dal, Lauki Muthiya, Jeera Rice.

Summary

  • Cuisine: gujarati
  • Style of Preparation: Vegan
  • Course: side dish
  • Preparation Time: 10 mins
  • Cooking Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

3 Tomatoes – medium, chopped
½ tsp Chili powder
¼ tsp Ground coriander
¼ tsp Ground Cumin
1 tsp Sugar
½ cup Sev (I used store bought)
1 tsp Mustard seeds
a pinch Asafoetida/ Hing
to taste Salt

Steps

  1. Heat 2tsp oil in a saute pan; add the mustard seeds and hing. Once the seeds start to splutter, add the tomatoes and cook covered until the tomatoes turn mushy. 
  2. Add the dry masalas, sugar and salt. Mix well and cook for 1~2 minutes. 

  • Add the sev just before serving.

Gujarati Tomato Curry

Gujarati Osaman Dal: This is a very flavorful dish which is sweet, tangy and crunchy.

Vegetarian Thali

Recipe adapted from DK’s Chefinyou.

Gujarati Osaman Dal

  • Servings: 23-serving
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Hearty & comforting vegetarian mini meal from Gujarat. Thali consists of Simple Gujarati Bhindi nu shaak (Okra Curry), Sev Tamatar nu Shaak (Tomato Curry), Gujarati Aloo nu shaak (Potato curry), Gujarati Osaman Dal, Lauki Muthiya, Jeera Rice.

Summary

  • Cuisine: gujarati
  • Style of Preparation: Vegan
  • Course: side dish
  • Preparation Time: 30 mins
  • Cooking Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

½ cup Masoor dal
¼ cup Peanuts
2 tbsp Jaggery
1 ~ 1½ tbsps Tamarind paste
¼ tsp Turmeric
2 ~ 3 Green chilies – chopped
8 ~ 10 Curry leaves
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Cumin seeds
¼ tsp Fenugreek seeds
a pinch Asafoetida/ Hing
to taste Salt

Steps

  1. Pressure cook masoor dal until soft and mushy.
  2. Once done, add peanuts, jaggery, tamarind paste, turmeric and salt to dal and simmer for 3~4 minutes.
  3. Heat 2tsp oil in a small pan, add mustard, cumin seeds and fenugreek seeds and once the seeds start to splutter, add the hing and curry leaves. Add this to the dal and Enjoy!!
  4. Gujarati Batata nu Shaak: This is a very simple potato curry. I boiled a potato, peeled and diced it. Then cooked it in a little bit of oil with mustard seeds, red chili powder and salt. Finally tossed some sesame seeds just before turning off the heat.

Vegetarian Thali

Lauki Muthiya: Recipe is here.

Vegetarian Thali

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 39.

An InLinkz Link-up

28 thoughts on “Gujarat — Mini Thali”

  2. you girls who prepare complete thali meal are simply amazing and you pavani with a todd at home, cant believe . also like your choice of dishes to go in the meal

    Reply

  4. That is a wonderful mini thali. The spices used in the shaak are so simple and available in every Indian kitcthen.

    Reply

  5. Pavani you rock dear..lovely Gujju Thali..sev tameta nu shaak is very popular in our house, I love the bhinda nu shaak…in fact all the dishes look so so inviting..Kudos on that effort.Gujarat rocks!!

    Reply

  7. Wow Gujarati thali, that batata shaak makes me hungry, wonderful subzis there, wish i could make a thali like u guys.

    Reply

  9. Amazing thali! Great job with the posting Pavani..I haven’t been commenting much (here or anywhere else these days) but have been checking your posts. Keep ’em coming!

    Reply

  10. this is no mini thali. this is THE thali.. looks fabulous. love every item on it.. I ma going to try each one of them.. bookmarked

    Reply

  25. omg pavani such an tempting and delicious spread 🙂 love the effort you have taken to put up this thali 🙂

    Reply

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