Kolhapuri Misal: Moth Beans Curry

Kolhapuri Misal

Today, I want to share with you about Kolhapuri Misal. This is one of my favorite dishes and it originates from Kolhapur in Maharashtra, India. This is mostly for my male friends (female friends are welcome to read on as well but I am sure you have your own variations. Guys - Impress your wives / girlfriends!!)

The most significant feature of this dish is that it is a very spicy dish! And I love it :-)

This is a common dish in any typical Maharashtrian restaurant. For people who do not like spicy food, they have invented different versions of "Misal" where they do not add more chillies and by adding some other ingredients like pohe, chivda, farsaan and what not.

It took me years to learn this recipe but it was worth it because today when I make it, my wife loves it. That is the best compliment …because she is a Singaporean who has not eaten Misal that many times in her life … and if she likes it, it speaks highly of me! :)

Well, the major ingredients for Misal are as follows:

·  Moth Beans (Matki)

·  Onion (lal kanda)

·  Tomato

·  Ginger and Garlic

·  Fresh (or dry) coconut (khobre)

·  Curry Leaves (kadipatta)

·  Coriander (Kothambir)

·  Red chili powder (Lal mirchi powder, ekdam zanzanit!)

·  Cumin and Mustard seeds (Jeere/Mohari)

·  Turmeric powder (Halad)

 Method:

·  Moth Beans, Matki (about 250 grams or so): There are two ways to prepare moth beans. Either soak them in warm water overnight, or use pressure cooker to cook them quickly. Remember that some types of moth beans are hard to cook and take more time to cook.

·  Chop 4-5 onions. Chop them as you like! No specific techniques. If it helps, imagine that it is your manager, and chop that onion. I am sure the onion will be chopped to its smallest size!

·  Chop 3 tomatos. Again, think of your manager. haha..

·  5-6 pieces of garlic and a small portion of ginger… chop them. I normally use the "crusher" for this. Remember that if you smash the garlic by hand, you can smell it on your fingers for at least 2 days! So avoid it and use a garlic crusher!

·  Half coconut. Either fresh or dried.

·  Now put 5-6 tablespoons (or A LOT) of oil in the pot and heat it for 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle some water to see if it’s hot (And don’t blame me if you get burned! Keep a safe distance!)

·  Add 1 teaspoon of cumin (jeere) and 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds (mohari) in it.

·  Add just a few curry leaves (Keep some curry leaves to add at the end). Stir them for 1 minute or so.

·  Add the chopped onions (your manager in tiny pieces) and continue stirring for 5 minutes.

·  Add the coconut and stir for 2 minutes.

·  Now add some turmeric powder (halad) and half a teaspoon of chilli powder. This is just to add flavor to the mixture inside the pot. Do not worry; we still have to add lots of chilli powder later!

·  Keep stirring… After 5 minutes or so, or whenever you feel it is the right time, add the moth beans.

·  Time to add the cut tomatoes and at least 1 glass of water or more depending on the type of consistency you desire.

·  After this, let the mixture come to a boil.

·  Optional: Add some "Garam Masala" if you wish. Note: Do not add too much Garam masala. Just a teaspoon or less. I normally add only tej patta (Bay Leaf) and dalchini (Cinnamon).

·  Add 1-2 teaspoons of red chilli powder… (You will feel the effects next morning proportional to the amount of chilli powder you put in!)

·  Add Salt to taste. Normally I add 1 teaspoon of salt.

·  Now add some oil again. It is strange to add oil at this stage but I feel it adds that nice red layer of oil at the end!

·  Let the mixture boil for 5-10 minutes. This time depends on how much the moth beans are cooked. Don’t overcook them.

·  At the end, add lots of coriander and the remaining curry leaves and stir it very well for 5 minutes.
·  That’s it. Main part is done.

You can either eat Misal with bread or "Pau". Some people eat it with chapatti as well. Your choice. I like it with bread (easy)

Before serving:

• For salad, cut 1-2 onions roughly (let your manager rest a little why don't we!), some cucumber (very useful when you put 2-3 teaspoons of chilli powder!). Cut 2-3 lemons. Cut them such that you won’t get the seeds.
• Put the misal in a wide bowl or a soup bowl. Put some shev on top of that. Now I don’t know how to describe shev! Either ask you mother/mother-in-law for this or buy the "Haldiram’s shev". But just make sure that the shev is not very strong in taste e.g. No pudina-flavoured etc.. Just buy the plain shev.
• At the end, squeeze the lemon wedges to add a lot of lemon juice to the Misal. And add some chopped coriander.

That’s it, your misal is ready. Mix it well before eating. Keep iced water ready, you will need it soon. If it is TOO spicy and you still cannot resist eating your Misal, a good tip would be to keep a glass of milk handy - the alkaline of the milk will combat the acidic effect of the chillies!

Enjoy and let me know how your Misal turned out!

(all the photos shown below are taken from my iPhone while preparting the misal)

My “Lords” Experience in 2001

It was April 2001, I was in London for my (first) onsite assignment. On one of the weekends, we decided to visit the Lords Stadium, which was near my apartment. So we booked a “Lords Tour” starting at 11:50AM. Well, I remember the time so well because while booking the ticket, the ticket officer said “Come at ten to twelve” … I said what? Ten or Twelve?  He said, “No. No. Ten to Twelve”! I was still confused. Then I saw the time on the ticket and I said oh! Ok ok... haha, well, I accept that that was my first time I realized 11:50 means “10 to 12”. Now even after 10 years, I laugh to myself when I recall this incident, but its ok. My schooling was done in a typical Marathi medium school. That too a Municipality School - “Vidya Niketan, Pune Mahanagarpalika Shala No 2”. Thus we were never taught like this! I am sure even my teacher won’t know what “ten to twelve” means!  :-)

Anyway, I guess there were 4-5 Indians in my group. The tour was for about 1 hour or so. So we booked the ticket in the morning, and we reached there at “ten to twelve”.

Tour guide (of course a typically British man in his 60s) started explaining about the stadium. He showed us all the places, like the changing rooms and where the Queen sits (I guess in the olden days, ladies were not allowed into Lords, except the Queen). Then he showed the place where Kapil Dev had lifted the World Cup trophy. (The tour guide didn’t say that, but I realized it immediately). And as a typical tourist, I took my photo where Kapil had lifted his trophy then … and where now “Ganguly had disrespected Lords protocol” by removing his shirt.

After that, the guide showed us the then newly built “Media Centre” in the stadium. View of the stadium from that Media Center was really amazing except for one thing, it was soundproof! I said to myself, what is this, you are watching the match so closely but you cannot “feel” the match. For me, and I guess for everyone who loves cricket, the sound of thousands of people in the stadium makes the game even more exciting!

Anyway, after seeing all those spots in the Stadium, he took us to the small museum inside the Stadium. It was dedicated to the World’s top cricketers. He was explaining to us everyone’s history.  He ended by showing us Brian Lara’s big portrait and he told us about Lara’s contribution to cricket. I thought that after some time, I would get to see / hear about Sachin. But then he ended with a, “That’s it. Those are the World’s best cricketers!”  I immediately asked him as an innocent Indian cricket lover, “Where is Sachin Tendulkar’s portrait?” He looked at me and didn’t say anything. After a short pause, the tour continued. Then after some time, the tour finished and everyone thanked him and we were about to leave the Stadium.

Then, the guide suddenly called me and said something to me. I still remember those words, and especially his expressions. He said, “So you want Sachin Tendulkar to be featured in this museum?” I asked, “Why not. He is India’s best cricket player!” Then, again there was a big pause after which he asked me “So where are you from?” I thought if I said Pune, he might not understand. Instead I replied that I am from Mumbai. !” I still remember his expression and the anger on his face when he immediately said, “Then go to Mumbai and build a Museum for Sachin Tendulkar in Mumbai!!” Well I was hardly 23-24 at that time, and he must be 60-65+ so I didn’t say anything, and left. But I was shocked and hurt. And I kept asking myself, why did he say that?

I didn’t tell this to anyone at that time. But I felt very bad. Maybe Sachin was not as famous then. But that didn’t mean that he could say that to me. I could feel the anger inside him for Indians.

Now after almost 10 years, I regret only one thing about that incident. I did not ask the tour guide for his name otherwise today, I would have found him (if he was still alive) and asked him that same question again. And I am very sure; he would have agreed that Sachin has proven him wrong.

(Who knows today Sachin himself may not want to be featured in Lords but Lords will want to feature Sachin there!)