Sunday, January 16, 2011

Anita's Gogji Nadir (Turnips and Lotus Root)- Kashmiri cuisine in my kitchen



Gogji Nadir is this subtle dish from Kashmiri cuisine which combines turnips(shalgam/nulkol) and lotus root (kamal kakri/bhein)- a combination that I have never had before. In fact, these two vegetables don't make an appearance very often in my shopping bag - turnips, I do buy for about two months during winter because they make a good addition to the vegetables we eat. They are almost like potatoes in that sense - easily adaptable and go well with many other vegetables. But lotus stem I tend to ignore for the most part - most of the recipes I have tried just involve frying them till crispy; I do love the baked recipe on Jugalbandi though.

But the moment I saw this dish on Anita's blog, I knew I had to make it. The recipe is simplicity itself - less than 5 ingredients - and gets made in a jiffy. The fact that you are using vegetables which are in season makes it unnecessary to smother it with a lot of spices - the crisp flavours  of the vegetables shine through in this dish and the broth is light and inspiring. There's just some chillies,mustard oil, asafeotida and it all comes together quite nicely. The soft turnips go well with the crunch of the lotus stem - I guess you could substitute with other veggies (Anita recommends a kohl rabi combination with lotus root for another dish called Monji Nadir), but even I, who am not a stickler for recipes, would really recommend sticking to this combination. By the way, did I tell you that we had a mini blogger meet last month? Manisha (from Indian Food Rocks), Anita and I met at Anita's place for lunch - en famille - and we had a great time talking about food, eating food and then talking some more! It was great fun and yes, Anita does cook like a dream - her Mutton Kalia was just outstanding with the stew simmered till the meat was falling off the bone!

Anita's recipe has detailed pictures including exactly how the vegetables are cut for this dish - I just added one more chilli and a pinch of coriander powder. Simply Superb. Try this - the winter in Delhi has been severe for a couple of weeks, but over the weekend it looked like it might end very soon, so I am going to make this a few more times while I have fresh vegetables around. The fact that turnips are cheaper than onions and tomatoes helps as well!

Anita's Gogji Nadir (Turnips and Lotus Root)
Adapted from this recipe from A Mad Tea Party

12 comments:

Archana said...

Oh yum ! I had something similar at a Kashmiri friend's place last month...There was a shalgam rajma, aloo dum, and this lotus stem in a yoghurt based gravy..Kashmiri food is really exotic !

Priya Suresh said...

Very comforting dish,looks hearty and yummy..

Anita said...

I think we may be in summer before we can even say Spring! What glorious days these past couple of them!

I saw you cooked up quite the storm for New Years! Fabulous spread! We stayed home as well. Saner thing to do, really.

Kalia needs no onions or tomatoes either! ;-)

it was great to have you guys over! We should do it again!

sangeeta said...

Oh great !!!
I made this last month and it is lined up for posting .... the recipe is a winner of course . I perfected it in the second try as i didn't like the overdone lotus stem the first time .

Indian Food Rocks said...

It was such a treat to meet you and your family! I still dream of your rice cooked in coconut milk and your drumstick sambar! I think you said that you had both recipes on your blog so I'll be looking for them soon!

Anita had some other tsch-something prefix for her kaliya. I'm guessing it's the Kashmiri word for mutton. Oh, it was so good!

Anita said...

Manisha, you have become tschobsessed! It is called just nenya kaliya. :)

Miri said...

Manisha - that was Tchaman Kaliya on Anita's blog - and Tchaman is paneer, not mutton :)

It was a pleasure to meet with you and your family as well!

Sanjeeta kk said...

Never added turnip in my lotus stem subji. Must try. Looks delicious!

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

Ahh I have also bookmarked this recipe but dont get lotus roots here. looks lovely love this soup like broth.
between have updated the post with the Chhana preparation link. sorry for the inconvenience.

sra said...

Yep, onion- and tomato-less dishes have great appeal now! :-D

Indian Food Rocks said...

No! No! I heard her say it to a really pretty woman from her big Kashmiri family. I swear she said tschnenya and not just nenya. ;-D

Vaishali said...

Looks so great. I haven't ever cooked with lotus root, but this looks terribly inspiring.