We love curries and specially curries that aren’t made commonly. One such curry is Beetroot. While growing up, Beetroot only made it to our salads, with time I found that people even make pickles out of Beetroot. And, then after I got married, I found that its a pretty popular curry in my new home.
Like all vegetable curries, Beetroot also has loads of unique ways of being cooked. My MIL makes her Beetroot by cooking it with spices and coconut puree, which is amazingly delicious as well. I still remember when Mr. Parveez told me one of his childhood stories about Beetroot. As a kid, he would sometimes take this curry to school and since Beetroot left a little red color on his tongue and he would run around telling his school mates that he had blood for lunch…LOLzzz. Childhood is the best life we live and the memories are so fond and extremely special. The most fascinating part is us remembering everything by looking at things around us….I always love sharing these little stories, after all, every food has a story.
This recipe is one of my experiments with both my favorite veggies, Beetroot and Bell pepper.
I am from North of India, Rajasthan, to be precise. There was just one kind Biryani that my mom made, similar masalas with either mutton or chicken and always served with Boondi Raita. Once I got married, everything changed. I got introduced to the real Biryani world. Getting married to a family who are vaguely connected to the Mughals [believe me] and a good food loving family.
I got introduced to not just varieties of Biryanis, that are almost close to the language dialects of our country with basic ingredients being the same, while spices, marination time and other requirements change and the result each time is fabulous biryani with different taste, leaving you craving for a new and different biryani every time.
So, coming back to Biryani accompaniments, I also discovered new side dished for Biryani, like Khatte Baingan, Cucumber Raita, Onion Tomato Raita, Dahi ki chutney, Mirch ka salan and Dalcha. Earlier, Mr. Parveez would always make Dalcha when I made Biryani. He took a lot of pride and would always be more than happy showing off his cooking skills, specially since its one of the few things that only he made. Until one day, my high tech husband had a last minute work call and he came out with the secret recipe and I made it…Its easy, thought you might find it difficult the first time but you get the hang of it and trust me, it makes you perfect Biryani outstanding.
This recipe of chutney is something you might never find in a restaurant. Its my family recipe, that I grew on.
Chutney is usually taken as a very ordinary dish and we never realize that a good or bad chutney can make our food taste better or spoil the flavor. Chutneys in Indian household is taken casually and its funny but we never realize what an amazing variety of chutneys are served on our tables. I believe even our moms never realized how many they make and serve.
Nevertheless, this recipe comes from my mother. She doesn’t even remember what inspired her to make it but whatever it was, this chutney is one of the best ones and goes really well with Kebabs.
