kachri (Cucumis callosus), the wild melon that packs antioxidants and boosts immunity : kachri ki chutney recipe

There are very few foraged foods that find their way into the urban markets sometimes and one of those is Kachri or Kaachri (Cucumis callosus or Cucumis melo sp agrestis) that looks like miniature watermelons. The similarity to watermelons ends here and once you cut these tiny melons you see numerous seeds and very little flesh inside. The seeds impart excellent protein content to this melon along with potent antioxidants and immunity boosting properties. See this study to know more.

Kachri is definitely a super food that can be found growing wild even on Delhi roadsides sometimes, but getting it from where it grows in the jungles and around the agricultural fields on it's own is a better option. Kachri vines are hardy and once planted the plant grows by self seeding every year.

The size of this kachri fruit varies so much that it can easily be named as a Chameleon melon too, the colour of the skin can vary from green, grey. brown. whitish to all the shades in between. The size also can vary so much that once can sometimes get confused about the identity. You would know it if you have tasted it, the aromatic tart flavour is so unique to this melon.

I buy a big batch whenever I spot kachri in the market and love cooking stir fries with them or make chutney. If you are traveling to Rajasthan and you happen to walk around any of the local markets you would see thick slices of kachri being sold in almost every spice and grocery shop.

Kachri powder is a great meat tenderiser too and is used generously in Rajasthan. The sun dried kachri slices are mostly used to make chutney along with loads of chillies, garlic and may be some herbs and seeds of the season.

The chutney I made a couple of months ago was so good we ended up using it with almost every meal. That simpler kachri ki chutney can be seen served with this Kachhe kele ke kabab here.

The brownish kachri ki chutney is made with just about a dozen fresh kachri sliced, about a dozen hot dry red chillies and 2 dozen fat garlic pods along with some salt. The chutney is so good it become addictive even though it is quite hot. But the balance of tangy, hot and pungent is the unique property of this chutney. 

I even use this chutney to make a quick stir fry with guwar (cluster beans) beans. This recipe of guwar beans is a variation of the guwar (guar) peanut subzi that we love, another variation of guwar and kachri is shared by Deepika on my Instagram page.

To make the kachri guwar stir fry, steam the guwar beans lightly, then stir fry lightly with mustard oil and hing (asafoetida) tempering for a couple of minutes. Add a generous dollop of the kachri ki chutney and cook for a couple more minutes. Your delicious stir fry is ready to eat. The same procedure can be used to make stir fry with okra and bitter gourds too. 

Another delicious chutney with sun dried kachri is made along with coriander greens, mint, green chillies and some sesame seeds. Recently we were at the Tijara Organic Farms at Alwar (Rajasthan) for work and this chutney was served with almost every meal. We loved it so much I brought some sun dried kachri with me.

To make the chutney with sun dried kachri follow the recipe below. The recipe is by Sneh Yadav, the owner of the Tijara Organic Farm.

ingredients 
(to make a 500 ml jar full)

1 cup of sun dried kachri
2 cups of fresh chopped coriander greens
1/2 cup of mint leaves
2 dozen green chillies or as per taste
2 dozen fat garlic cloves peeled or just rinsed well
1/4 cup sesame and flax seeds mix
salt to taste

procedure 

Blend everything in the blender till a smooth paste is formed.

Add a little water or buttermilk if required. Empty the chutney into a clean (sterile) glass jar and serve as desired. The chutney keeps well for a day at room temperature and for a week or longer if refrigerated.

This chutney has all the ingredients that make it a super food. Those who want to supplement iron and calcium in their diet can add some more sesame and may be a few springs of curry leaves too.

This kachri chutney also helps lower cholesterol, boost immunity and gut health (the phytochemical analysis proves here). The seeds of the kachri as well as the flax and sesame used in the chutney make it a fairly high protein food too, so if you are using this chutney as a dip like hummus be assured you are eating a lot better for health.

The kachri chutney made this way is quite versatile as well. Spread it on toasted bread along with some salad greens and make an instant healthy sandwich or just spread on a multi grain gluten free roti and see how you love a quick meal.

This kachri chutney is like a good pesto. I like pesto on my multi grain rotis a lot. See how I eat boiled eggs wrapped in pesto smeared roti here on my Instagram post.

With crackers this chutney makes a great snack or starter. Or top it over bruschetta along with some fresh crunchy raw salad.  This kachri ki chutney wouldn't disappoint you any which way.

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egg scramble with garlic chives and sorghum flour pita bread recipe | desi super foods for everyday

A simple regular egg scramble takes about 5 minutes to make and a millet based pita bread can take another 10-15 minutes depending on your roti making skill. Blending pomelo segments to make a smoothie-juice takes another 5 minutes, including cleaning your blender. In about 20 minutes a super food breakfast can be whipped up and this platter of egg scramble with loads of chives and rucola, sorghum pita bread and pomelo (grapefruit) smoothie was our weekend late breakfast last week.

Wondering why I am talking about super foods so often these days?

I know you have questioned the relevance of super foods and have wondered about what foods are super foods and which ones are 'just regular food'. High time we analysed our 'just regular foods' and took a hard look on super foods. Don't you think we need the so called super foods more because we have fallen for junk foods? The more we eat junk foods the more we feel like compensating with some super power..err..super foods.

And lo and behold, the same markets that trapped us into the 'junk food' addiction, are shoving super foods down our throats. And we end up eating the extra large sized junk burgers, gripped by guilt later we buy a pack of some newly introduced (to our part of the world) berries and seeds and try and undo the burger guilt. Oh and we overlook everything else that might have been on our table in a normal way. The 'just regular food' that may be equivalent to the newly crowned super food is often ignored as there are stronger market forces pushing us towards a certain new product.

But the good thing is, we can decide better.

It will help to know that using herbs and some spices can boost up the super food quotient of any 'just regular meal' by several notches.

Here are a few ways you can make a regular meal antioxidant rich, and get it qualify as super food.

• a pinch of clove powder has enough antioxidants as a handful of berries. Add it to your regular banana smoothie if you don't have blueberries. See this to believe.
• adding some basil or tulsi leaves to the smoothie or salad would be even better than blueberries. 
• a generous dash of black pepper would help absorb nutrients better and make a regular bowl of vegetable or fruit salad much more nutrition efficient.
• amla or Indian gooseberry blended with ginger and curry leaves in a glass of buttermilk is packed with super foods of different categories. 
• Think of turmeric, ginger, fenugreek, regular curry powder and even green chutneys and how these have been making Indian meals healthier for centuries. 
• some very easily available leaves like curry leaves, drumstick leaves, purslane, sweet potato leaves, beet leaves and even turnip and radish leaves are full of antioxidants and minerals that one finds in expensive imported berries and exotic leafy greens. 

See how easily drumstick leaves combine with scrambled eggs to make a delicious meal in a hurry.

The egg scramble I am sharing today is made using garlic chives and rucola greens from my garden. It could be simple coriander greens or spring onions or even a generous amount of ginger and garlic, some freshly milled pepper to make the mundane egg scramble more nutrition efficient.

And once you pair this breakfast with a millet bread it become better, a glass of grapefruit or citrus juice makes it even better. If not juice it could be this amla infused buttermilk.

Recipe of the creamy and herb loaded egg scramble..

ingredients 
(2 servings)

4 eggs
1/2 cup chopped garlic chives
1/4 cup rucola leaves  (or use coriander greens or spring onions)
1 tbsp or a bit more roughly chopped mature cheddar
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp milk (you can use butter too)

procedure..

Pour the milk in the pan first, break the eggs directly in the pan and dump in all the ingredients together. Whisk a little, lower the heat to minimum and cover for a minute or so.

Uncover, scramble the soft set eggs till it reaches the desired consistency. Serve immediately.

I used to cook my egg scramble in milk during my research days when I would teach in the early morning hours and then would reach the lab around 9 AM. I would buy milk, eggs, bread and fruits for on the way and cook a quick egg scramble with bread as soon as I reached my lab. Since this was cooked over a simple heater with minimal ingredients and utensils I used to add milk to eggs and quickly stir to scramble them. That became my favourite method to scramble eggs later. My sandwiches were famous among my lab mates by the way.

Recipe of the jowar (sorghum pita)..

ingredients..
(makes 2 large round pita breads, enough for 2-3 servings)

a cup of jowar flour
1/2 cup of yogurt
pinch of soda bicarb
pinch of salt
a cup of hot water

procedure

Add salt and soda bi carb to the flour and whisk to mix. Pour the yogurt and whisk again as it becomes a crumbly dough.

Now add hot water slowly and knead a soft dough while massaging the dough in quick movements.

Heat a griddle, divide the dough into two parts, roll out a flat bread between 2 sheets of cling film or pat a thick roti using your palms. I do just that.

Slap the roti on hot griddle and let it cook both sides. The roti (flat bread) would come off the hot griddle as soon as it cooks, if it keeps sticking to the pan it means it is yet to cook. Give it come more time and it comes off.

Bake it some more over open flame and cut into wedges of halves as per convenience.

Alternatively, the rolled out roti can be baked in the oven till done. On the griddle it takes hardly 5 minutes but in the oven it will take about 25 minutes to bake.

Any leftover jowar roti or pita bread can be crumbled with ghee and jaggery to make instant dessert, the peasant way.

High time we started eating the peasant way.

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panjeeri the desi granola mix | recipe of fenugreek turmeric panjeeri | Indian super foods

Every Indian home knows what Fenugreek is and how to use it to get the benefits required. There are hordes of recipes from chutneys to curries to laddus and panjeeris. Fenugreek is stored and consumed even in the plain powder form, a tsp of this bitter powder with warm milk works wonders for skeletal system and joint health.

There are many panjeeri recipes in north India and all of them are made suiting the requirement of the seasons and body. All panjeeris are basically granola mixes, some of them are made with wheat four but most of them are gluten free.

In modern times as we discover new super foods everyday it is better we brush up our own repertoire of easy everyday super foods. The exotic sounding imported super foods like Goji berries, Acai berries, Blueberries and Currants might sound attractive and there is nothing wrong in trying them once in a while but it is better to know that much cheaper Amla, Drumstick leaves, Red Cabbage, Cloves and Fenugreek seeds are much more eligible candidates for super food awards. For everyday dose of antioxidants and anti inflammatory foods I would rather depend on our home grown super foods.

This Methi ki panjeeri recipe is an age old super food made in Indian homes, the  recipe may differ in different homes and different regions but the use of Fenugreek, Turmeric and Ginger powder stays constant. The healing and nourishing methi ki panjeeri is made for new mothers to help lactation, healing, better bone health by supplementing good quality calcium and for boosting immunity.

For adults suffering from joint pains and general fatigue, this panjeeri works wonders. Trust me if you have been suffering from backaches and knee pains this panjeeri may help you heal really fast. I would suggest you strengthen your muscles by working out to be able to maintain bone and joint health as weaker muscles lead to more pressure on joints and make them wane.

And it is great to know that Fenugreek does help strengthen muscles for weight lifters too. See this article for more information. This panjeeri will strengthen muscles, bones and do more benefits by boosting immunity too. Read on the recipe.

It might feel like an acquired taste when you start eating this, but slowly you would start liking it actually. If you feel it is too bitter for your taste, add some jaggery powder to it. This recipe yields slightly bitter panjeeri.

ingredients 
(makes enough panjeeri to last a month for 2 people, 1-2 tbsp serving size)

fenugreek seeds powdered finely 150 gm
amaranth flour 100 gm
turmeric powder 50 gm
dry ginger powder 15-25 gm (depending on taste and season, you may add more in winters)
fox nuts (makhane) 150 gm
dry dates (chhuhare or khareek) 300 gm
almonds 200 gm
walnuts 100 gm
melon seeds 100 gm
ghee 100 gm
raisins chopped 50 gm or to taste

procedure 

Dry roast the amaranth flour in a thick base pan. Cool and keep aside.

Heat 15 gm ghee and dry roast the fenugreek powder in it, do it on medium flame till the powder gets aromatic. Add turmeric powder to it and roast for a couple of minutes more, add dry ginger powder, mix well and remove from the stove. Cool and pour over the already roasted amaranth flour.

Now pour the remaining ghee in the pan (kadhai) and fry or roast the fox nuts in it on low flame. Keep stirring continuously till the fox nuts get crisp. Cool and powder immediately in mixie.

Powder the melon seeds, almonds and walnuts in the same mixie. I prefer grinding them coarse but you can make a fine powder.

Now remove seeds from all the dry dates and make a powder in mixie. You may need to hammer each dry date (khajoor) to remove the seeds as these are quite hard. If the dates are not completely dry you may need to sun dry them for a day or oven dry them at 70 C for an hour or so.

I add finely chopped raisins too sometimes and like it. You may omit if you don't like. Or you can add more if you like them.

Mix all the ingredients nicely and taste, adjust sweetness if required.

I sometimes add spices like clove powder, nutmeg and cardamom powder to make the taste more complex and to enhance the healing property.

Adding some powdered jaggery will be a good idea after tasting the final mixture.

Have a heaped tablespoon or two of this panjeeri everyday with milk for healthy joints, strong bones and better immunity. I love the slightly bitter taste and have a few people who can vouch for the taste just like me.

But if you want to avoid the bitterness in the methi ki panjeeri, you can make smoothies using this mix and some milk. Here are a few ideas to make smoothies. Make room temperature smoothie with it as I don't think this mix will be suited for a chilled or cold smoothie.

1.  You can add a heaped tbsp of this mix to milk and banana for a quick smoothie. 
2. This methi ki panjeeri can also be added to almond milk to make a nice thinner smoothie.
3. Mix 1 tbsp of this methi ki panjeeri to thin oats porridge and blend. Have it like a warm smoothie in winters and see how you start loving it.

For me it becomes a snack sometimes with a cup of warm milk in the day time. I crave for chai during my work time and sometimes a hot cup of milk with this methi ki panjeeri is just the right replacement. Not the calorie count but the nutrient count of this methi ki panjeeri makes it super food for everyday.

If you want to make methi ke laddu you will need a bit more ghee to bind them in balls. The powder suits me well I say, I have made three batches of this panjeeri this year after a minor surgery last December. I even carry a small box of it when traveling and it has helped me heal better for sure.

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