Gujarati -That's what I am :)

A Gujarati, native in rich cultured Saurashtra region, bought up and schooling in Capital of Gujarat , studied engineering in yet another part of Gujarat and did jobs in 3 such places where earlier I was never been.

Though I was not much keen about knowing/discovering the history and culture of different parts of Gujarat at that time , Life just passed such a way that I interacted with many different people from each part of Gujarat. These things made me aware of the rich history and culture of Gujaraties (“Gujarati loko” as we call :) - loko means people in Gujarati language), different yet always the same kind of neat and well managed life style they have.

With their hearts always ready to give a warm welcome to guests and supporting for any new people in the area. I can see the same hospitality in Gujarati people here too, and perhaps this are what we Gujaraties inherited from our Land :z .

Today when I think about my past I feel even more proud of the life I spent there . Especially the support I got from the people from the places where I had never been before, and where I was not even intending to stay for a long. Knowing all these things if someone is still helping you, I just understand that, that is some unconditional help and favor they are doing to you, without expecting anything in return. And when you are a part of such juncture, definitely you can say humanity is not finished yet ( Manavata haji mari parvari nathi , as we say in our Gujarati :) ) .

It’s the place where ,

when you meet someone for the first time they welcome you as if they have been waiting for you - just as a long lost dear friend,
where the hospitality of the hosts make you eat almost double than you can :D
and where even a simplest single meal is not complete without buttermilk – “Chhash “ ,Understand that you are somewhere in Gujarat :) .

We celebrate many lovely festival , be it Navarti with Garba and Dandiya or New year day following Diwali day or Kite festival on 14th of Jan. every year :~...

Now when it comes to Gujarati meal , My dil go sooooonnnn...... :O ,…. Ahhh let me decide where to start from :d ………..
As you all know , Khaman , Dhokla , Handavo, khandavi , khichdi – kadhi , Undhiyu,Muthia,
Patra etc...are very close part of Gujarati kitchen and now much liked by people of other regions too :L .

Not only that , we have a large variety of main course , side dishes, pickles , snacks and dinner items, some of which is very specific to the season - like in winter Bajri na rotla ne ringana no olo or methi ringan nu shak ne bhakhari .

Be it Puri , rotli (fulka roti ), thepla, Bhakhari or Rotla we have different veriety in those too.

For example if you talk about thepla, we have Dudhi na thepla (lauki thepla) , methi na thepla ( fenugreek thepla) , Masala thepla, Lasaniya thepla(garlic thepla) etc…

And not to forget a large array of sweets – churma na ladu , shiro, mohan thal , magaj , penda , lapsi , dudh paak , dudh pauaa, bundi ladoo , and many more I think.

Here is a traditional dish I would like to share with you today .
That is Ringana na olo .(Roasted Eggplant Subji )

This traditional shaak is famous since a long time where there were no gas stoves available , and the best taste of it you get when you roast it using chulha, where it gets the opportunity to cook really well from all the side with real falmes of wood.
You will this find this as a Gujarati version of baingan ka bhartha.
The main difference being that it don’t take any other veggies like tomato or onion for making this.

Basically a much more spicier and oily version of this shaak , has now turned into a little mild and less oily version to suit our much idle life of today . This during the winter days specially is the food you can find in kitchen of each farmer families, those were the days where agriculture were the only main source of income for people, their life was so busy , active with different activities in farm and home stuffs ,where one don’t need to worry on how to loose pounds of weight, instead it was necessary to eat sufficient source of all kind of food to keep one more lively and active .

Now as my clock is reminding me that I have last one hour left to post and send this entry I better hurry and share the recipe of it to you all…

Ingredients :
Big eggplant
2 tsp garlic minced with 1 tsp red chili powder ,
2-3 green chilies ,
2 tsp oil ,
Salt to taste , coriander leaves to garnish .

Method :
Choose not too hard eggplant , from the veriety of largest possible size of it .
Using knife just make little slits on its skin and roast it on flame from all sides ,
Untill you can see its skin easily getting saparated from the inner part.
Roast it whole until too tender .

Keep it on a large dish or aluminium foil and let it cool for a while, then carefully remove all the back skin from it and then on a chopper board cut it length wise and then cut it from width ,such than it will make small piece of it , which actually u can see as the smallest part it. Keep in mind that you roast it such that it will not be like piece at this stage just a soft little bite you can say .

Next in a kadai heat the oil , when it is warm add the minced garlic with red chili and then chopped green chili . Add the cut eggplant and salt , stir will ,mix every thing and cook for just a min or two.
Turn off the heat and garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

This makes a perfect desi gujarati thali when served with bajri(pearl millet) na rotla with fresh home made butter on it and gol(jaggery) In winter days makes perfect warm meal that is good and warm for body too.





Since I am not that perfect with making Rotla I would recommend you to check this for step by step process of how to make perfect bajri no rotlo .

This goes straight to Mythili of Vindu for RCI-Gujarat. I just realized that today is the last date , and don’t wanted to miss this opportunity to share this and many lovely things of a Gujarati .Thank you Mythili for chossing Gujarti cuisine for this month it was wonderful participating with this my all time favorite dish , and may be its favorite of all Gujaraties :) .


I think I can write and share much more about the region –Gujarat , may be some other time , its already 11.55 pm :f , today is fight with time just 5 mins left now :D , also not to bore you much today ;). A very good morning to you if you are reading this in early morning and have a nice day ahead :) .