PREP TIME: 15 minutes
COOKING TIME: 15 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 30 minutes
SERVES: 4 persons
Many of you would not have heard about ‘kachnar ki kali ki sabzi.’ But ‘kachnar ki kali ki sabzi’ is a very special dish of UP. The kachnar tree blooms for a very limited time, so you can make this dish only in a very short period, at the end of winter. Moreover, buds turns to flowers in a day or two, so it is extremely difficult to get hold of the buds of the kachnar tree.
I love ‘kachnar ki kali ki sabzi. My mother would take pains to prepare kachnar ki kali ki sabzi at least once or twice during the kachnar season. Even today I can feel the taste of the heavenly kachnar ki kali ki sabzi prepared by her. After marriage, I came out of UP, so I could rarely taste this dish. This year when I went to my brother’s place both of us remembered our mother’s superlative cooking. My brother asked me to cook kachnar ki kali ki sabzi for him. Though I did not remember the entire recipe, I went ahead, trying to fill in the missing steps by trying to remember how the dish had tasted.
I am proud to say that the kachnar ki kali ki sabzi prepared by me was excellent and taste exactly what my mother used to make. Perhaps, you can become a good cook only if you have sensitive taste, buds because then you can recreate the taste of any dish.
INGREDIENTS FOR KACHNAR KI KALI KI SABZI:
1. Kachnar ki kali (buds)-250gm
2. Hing- 1 pinch
3. Turmeric powder: 1 tsp
4. Red chilli powder: 1 tsp
5. Coriander powder: 2 tsp
6. Garlic : 10-12 cloves crushed
7. Curd: ½ cup
8. Salt to taste
9. Mustard oil -2 tblsp
HOW TO MAKE KACHNAR KI KALI:
1. Clean Kachnar buds, remove the fat stems from the buds. Wash these buds two to three times nicely with clean water.
2. Take water in a pan in which would be enough buds to submerge the buds properly. Heat this pan. When water starts boiling put kachnar ki kali and ½ tsp of salt. When the water again starts boiling, let it boil for another 3-4 minutes. Turn off the gas, drain out the water and let the buds cool off.
3. After the buds cool down, take the buds between your palm and press them softly so that excess water is removed from the buds. Keep the buds aside.
4. Heat oil in a kadhai. Add hing and crushed garlic. Sauté a little.
5. Add turmeric and kachnar ki kali. Sauté it for some time.
6. Add salt and saute it.
7. Now put red chilli powder, coriander powder. Mix well.
8. Gradually, add curd and sauté on a low flame until the oil separates from the kachnar buds.
8
. Kachnar ki kali sabzi is now ready. This sabzi goes well with puri, parantha and chapati.
