TMD Popular Food Combinations.

For a TMD nothing can be more popular than good ambat bhaji had with phodni and kaathrecha 

mirsinga! Aha!  Over time, perhaps due to a yearning for the land we had come away from, the TMDs 

took Food combinations to a level of ....dare I say it! Here are some of the ones I grew up with ....

I hope readers come out with a few of their own!

Ambat Bhaji with Phodni and Kaathrecha Mirsinga

Well, for the TMDs this mouthwatering combination has no equal in culinary history!

Waran Bhath with Thoop

This simple combination of hot rice, homemade ghee(thoop)  mixed with soft cooked Turi dal boiled 

with haldi and with a hint of phodni is a great 'Comfort Food' . When feeling low, getting over 

sickness, when upset try this and you will feel the warmth of your mother's love in this simple food!

Saar Bhath

I call this another 'Comfort Food' . Saar by itself is a great South Indian delicacy. Saar bhath for 

TMDs is a basic. It is so basic that "kheer poli nahithrina, saar bhath " "खीर पोळी नही 

तहरहीन सार भाथ" is popularly used to describe this simple food in comparison with rich food like

kheer poli.

Thoop Meeth Bhath

A baby food that is enjoyed by all adults at all times! Just hot rice mixed with homemade ghee and

salt and mixed very well!

Kheer Poli

As mentioned before this is the opposite of Saar bhath. While saar bhath is everyday food, kheer poli

graces special occasions.  It is made on sanach divas, festival days., special puja days.

Perhaps, this is one more tradition we carried from our origins! The tradition of making Kheer Poli.

This is in total contrast to the Tamils, whom we emulate in language, due to living with them for so long!

Tamilians make "vadai payasam" whereas we never make "vadai and payasam combination

except on inauspicious days!

PURAN POLI..A special mention.

 All over Maharashtra making puran polis for festivals is important, so it is for us.

For festivals, Puran poli is very often made and enjoyed with ghee or milk or just plain!

Goddu Saar with Roasted pappad

This used to be a popular combination when one has had a heavy lunch outside, maybe a wedding or so 

and dinner is at home. This existed in the days before a refrigerator became a household name and 

keeping food in the frig and having the next day was unknown!

So it was unwise to make a full evening meal and have to deal with leftovers, that is when this combo 

of  Godde Saar with bhaajalthe pappad became popular! This combination is I think lost by the advent 

of the refrigerator and Take Out meals!

Kadhi Ambode

This is even today made during festival days. Kadhi is made in combination with Ambode

and the ambode is soaked in the khadi and had. 

This Ambode, soaked in Kadhi has no equal in taste! It is also called Korada Ambode.

Pitla with fried oil and fried pappad.

Strange? Well, strange it may sound but tasty it is! This typical TMD dish pitla is had with

thallathe thel and thallathe pappad! 

BHARITH...a Thanjavur Marathi Dish

 Bharith is a very tasty accompaniment to any meal and very simple and easy to make.No grinding and no masala!
What makes Bharith different from Raitha? As far as I know, Bharith is  made with mashed vegetable and raitha is made with grated or chopped vegetables. It is not equivalent to the Tamil  'thogayal' as this is largely made with Dahi/ Curds.

BHOMPLAACH BHARIT:

Interesting Info: I hear that in my grandfather's time tender whole pumpkins were roasted on coals

until the skin was charred. The skin would then be removed and the pulp of the pumpkin mashed to make Bharith!

This was probably done in the 'CHUL' used to heat water for bath . Probably the younger generation have no clue about all this....will blog about it another time...

Anyhow, in today's Thanjavur Deshastha homes, the pumpkin or bhompla is peeled, chopped, boiled and the mashed.

To this is added 'phodni' (this has come to be referred as 'ponni' in TMD homes!) .

To make 'phodni'..heat oil, add mustard seeds, udadcha dal, thamda mirsinga(red chilli). Once udad cha dal is brown, add  hirva mirsinga (green chilli), karepak (curry leaves) and add to the mashed bhompla/pumpkin. Mix with dahi/curds and garnish with kothmir. Add salt.

VAANGYACHA BHARIT:

Made with the huge big vaangi/brinjal/eggplant this is made the roasted way. Roasted on fire, peeled, mashed and made just same way as above.

URLAGADDE/BATATA CHA BHARIT:

This ia also made by boiling the potatoes and mashing them. Phodni of red chillies, udadacha dal, mohre(mustard seeds) is added , along with green chillies, curry leaves. This is mixed with dahi/curd and garnished with kothmir.

South Indian Food inspired by the Thanjavur Marathis

We all have enjoyed and relished several South Indian dishes and some of these have become so much a part of Tamilian or Karnataka cuisine that their origin is forgotten. Even as I write this, I am sure there may arise questions regarding my claiming them as originally TMD dishes. Well, I have supplied enough evidence for my conclusions and hope you all feel the same!

The first one is .....

VANGI BHATH... as the very name suggests Vangi in Standard Marathi and TMD is brinjal and Bhath is rice. In Tamil, vangi is 'kattrikai' and in kannada it is 'badnekai'. Rice in Tamil is 'saadam' and in Kannada is 'anna'. So this is one dish popularly made by all south indian people that may have originated from the Thanjavur Marathi Deshasthas, who settled down south.


RASAVANGI or Vangyacha Rasa
This dish though very popularly made among the Tamil speaking population, so much so that one would think it is an original dish from the Tamil nation, probably has its origins in the Marathi speaking Deshasthas from South India! Rassa is a very popular Standard Marathi dish and once again Vangi is brinjal in both TMD and Standard Marathi. Bhendi Ras and Vangi Ras is still made among the TMDs.


PITLA..
This dish is very very typically a Thanjavur Marathi Dish and has no equivalent among the standard Maharashtrians except in Name. A dish named Pitla is common among the Maharashtrians but this refers to a dish made with besan and water...also called Junka amongst the TMDs.
The Pitla is very popularly made during weddings and auspicious functions. Amongst the Kannada people it is called Kootu. I welcome any conclusions on how this dish came to be a very typical TMD dish

DAANGAR..
What a fearful name that sounds! Even so it is a peculiar dish made with Urad flour mixed in buttermilk with seasoning added. It is had in a small amount as a first course or accompaniment.
This is once again a very typical TMD dish. I have seen recipes of this in Tamil recipe books and called as Daunker.


SAMBAR.. Here is what Wiki has to say about Sambar as a TMD inspired dish! I rest my case!

KOSHAMBRI....
Also called Koshimbir in SM and ads Kosambari in Kannada may be a TMD dish but yet I cannot be too sure. This is a lentil salad in anglicized terms.

SWEET KOSHAMBRI... This is without doubt another TMD original. Generally for weddings and festivals, two koshambirs are made and only among the TMDs a sweet and a spicy koshambir is made! It is made with soaked Chana dal, coconut, sugar and cardamom! This is not made or even heard of by many Kannada Deshasthas.

METHKUT... maybe another TMD original. It is however made by Kannada speaking Deshasthas and is called Menthe Hittu by them.

MARATHI MASALA.. This is a spice powder very much like the current SM Goda Masala. It is darkish in color and in my parents home was used to make Phanasach Sambar फणसाच साम्बार (Jackfruit Sambar) and Golyaacha Ras(Kofta Curry?)

JACKFRUIT SAMBAR(फणसाच साम्बार )...is made only among TMDs and I don't think has an equivalent anywhere .

RECIPES FOR ALL THE ABOVE DISHES CAN BE FOUND AT FEST'N'FOOD.

There are perhaps many more TMD dishes; some have even got lost down the line. Interestingly, they perhaps were made exactly like they were made in Maharashtra today but due to availability of necessities like kokum etc. evolved into very typical TMD dishes!

FOOD FOR WEDDINGS AND FESTIVALS

It is indeed surprising that in spite of living years together in Tamil Nadu, where VADAI and PAAL PAYASAM is the fare for for every festival, the TMDs never adopted the vadai -payasam for their festivals.
On the other hand, both the VADAI and PAAL PAYASAM are never ever made for auspicious occasions. The Vadai is made for inauspicious ceremonies! So the paal payasam too!

A typical meal for a wedding would include TWO KOSHIMBIRIS, TWO BHAJIS, KHADI, PITLA, AMBODE, CHINCH BHATH, KHEER, RAITHA, WARAN and the sweet dish would be PURAN POLI/ SEMIYA PHENI/ CHIROTI /MAANDE etc. Besides this would be the JHANGRIS, LAADUS/ BURFIS etc.

TMDs also make a SWEET KOSHAMBRI with chanadal, sugar, elaichi and dry copra. Usually this is the second koshambri.

A specialty among the SMARTHA MARATHI DESHASTHAS from Thanjavur is the KAANDE SAMBHAR (Onion Sambhar) that is made for the JHANVAAS jevan. This is zealously avoided by the MADHWA faction of the TMDs.

Food

While TMDs have adopted various kinds of diets picked up from the place where they lived, it is interesting to note that on festival days they revert back to their traditional food! Also the food given to a new mother soon after delivery is once again traditionally marathi.

Sambhar, once again an adopted dish, even tho' originated from Sambhaji Rao is not prepared on festival or "सना च दिवस ". On the other hand, Khadi, Pitla, Bhakri , Koshimbir and Puran Poli is made! Not to forget the Saar and Bhaaji. Tho' many of the foods mentioned above somehow got converted to a totally different dish but maintained the name, like Pitla and Bhakri! More of that later.

Udad dal is never made for festivals as it is made for Shradh. With this, I remember in my childhood when we lived at Chennai, on auspicious days like Deepavali and Vijaya Dashami , we had Tamil neighbors who got us their "Vade and Payasam"! The delicious looking Urad Medhu wada made crisp with the hole in center had our mouths watering! In vain, as the wadas would straight find its way to the backyard for the maid to take!

Similarly a new mom, would get to have "लसन्नाचा सार" garlic saar, गोंदाचा लाडू gond laddu, while the baby would be given 'gutti'

Dishes still made by the TMDs are Sappak Pitla 'सप्पक पिटला', 'ambat भाजी' ambat bhaji, 'सार 'Saar, 'कोशिंबीर' Koshimbir, 'भाजी' Bhaji, 'मेथकुत' Methkut 'गोद्दू पिटला' Goddu Pitla, Sambhar'साम्भर', 'भरीत' bharith , (वांग्याचा भारित vangyacha bharith), 'ठेंचा' Thencha, 'लोणचे' Loncha

Recipe for all the above follows...