Simplicity Coimbatore , Bread making during lockdown/a
Another few weeks of being in lock down and safely cocooned inside our homes…. Thoughts and prayers go out to all those stranded and hungry ,whose days are far removed from recipe exchanges and cooking innovations. How quickly things can change ; what was normal before almost seems like a distant luxury now !
It was while reading the news and looking at the images that made me think about the article we did awhile back about Trash cooking. Skins, peels , roots and shoots turned into delicious meals to feed the family. As if on cue, an Instagram story of a relative features potato skins being baked for a tasty snack.
It was amazing how many memories a visual like that can bring up in an instant. Food is powerful , more so in the emotions it invokes. Potato skins was something my aunt loved making ,especially for my mother. Since her passing I don’t recall baking potato skins even once in these past 4 years !
The next memory is fairly recent. A virtual friend ( we have never met in person) who is so vibrant in everything she does, has been posting pictures on what she’s cooking for herself and her family ,during this period. Her recipes ,many a time, end up taking us on a culinary tour of this country’s incredibly vast cuisine.
One such post spoke about frugal meals and not wasting ingredients. She was making a Bengali dish called “bata” using potato peel among other things. In Tamil Nadu traditional recipes do feature the peerkangai thol and the skin of other gourds but I had never heard or cooked an Indian dish using the potato peel. It was most fascinating to read the recipe and I filed it away in my subconscious ,for a rainy day.
Now almost 3 weeks later the memory of the aloo bata resurfaces along with oven roasted ,crisp potato skins served with a hung curd dip. Potato skins as a snack have been featured in English cookbooks since approximately the early 80s. In the cuisine of Bengal however it dates back to the many many generations of thakumas & didimas who toiled over dishes like this to feed the large family which gathered for every meal(Thakur-ma – paternal grandmother ; Didima- maternal grandmother). So a bata was made by grinding the ingredients on an ammi kal ,referred to as a sil batta. ‘Bata’ essentially means to grind well (to a paste like consistency).
A bata is made using such a wide mix of ingredients depending on what is available. What my friend made was a bright almost florescent ,in it’s vibrancy ,green bata using the peel of the sponge gourd in addition to the potato peel.
Since we had a small pile of potato peel ,at home,cast aside from making potato poriyal , it seemed like the right opportunity to give this bata a try. We also have a small stone grinder which can be carried around easily and it comes in extremely handy for such trials. Since we didn’t have any mustard oil at home, the flavours had to mimic Southern tastes. The lovely lady had also given us options for the same.
To go with the potato peel we added a handful of freshly grated coconut , a few cloves of garlic,a couple of chillies and a tiny piece of ginger (immunity booster!) One of the green chillies had ripened to a fire engine red and made for a pretty picture! The next step was to sauté all of these in a tablespoon of cold pressed sesame oil to which we added some cumin seeds. The toasty aroma of the cumin always gets the mouth watering in anticipation of a tasty dish.
It all came together beautifully. The riot of colour in the iron wok succumbed to the hot oil and sizzled away allowing the moisture from the ingredients to be released and evaporated. After it was well cooked and golden,it was time to take it back to the stone grinder and begin the back and forth process of making the bata.
The motion of arm , elbow and shoulder socket is a technique which comes easily not only with practice but also just by watching. I have lost count of the infinite times when I have stood in the back room of my mother’s kitchen watching every masala or spice paste being ground in this manner. The hand chiseled ,rounded stone rolls easily up and down the base held firmly by the hands on both sides of the ends. This practiced ease of working which crushed the ingredients and still held enough control so that the heavy roller didn’t fall and damage the toes, was always marvelous to watch. The pestle would then be held upright to wipe down any masala sticking to its surface and then the base would be similarly cleaned by using the palm of the hand in a swiping motion.
All of those childhood visuals came flooding back while working on the potao peel mixture. The vision glazed over for a bit in far away thoughts before returning to focus on the job at hand. Since we were experimenting with a small quantity, it took little time to get it done. Yes it was hot and despite doing this outdoors, it was thoroughly enjoyable. We tasted a little bit of the bata and decided to add some fresh coriander leaves at the last minute.
The texture is like that of a Srilankan sambol you could say. The taste is remarkable. For starters, no one would imagine that it’s made with potato skin ! The individual taste of each food ,be it the intensity of garlic or the burn of the chillies does not grab attention. Instead it’s a well rounded blend of tastes which holds universal appeal.There’s something so familiar and yet so different about this potato skin bata.
It seems to me that recipes like these can also be modified to suit individual tastes and local ingredients. I would love to make a Bengali bata using the pungent mustard oil. But, until then ,this would have to do.
I also came across a lovely you tube tutorial of a grandmother making the aloo bata at her home. Apparently she has passed on since which makes this video all the more special. She is shown ,walking about plucking ingredients around her before settling down to grind the bata.
While the Bengali friends educate me on the many different kinds of bata using local fish , green banana peel , pumpkin innards and so much else I cannot help but be thankful for friends who continue to feed my curiosity about food in all its glorious avatars.
My meal of rice, green gram dhal ,potato skin bata and curd is eaten with gratitude and hope of better days ahead.
Potato Skin Bata recipe- serves 3
Potato peel-1 C
Garlic cloves-2 -chopped
Ginger- a small piece-chopped
Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder-1/2 tsp
Green chillies-2
Grated coconut-1/2 C
Cumin seeds- 1tsp
Coriander powder-1/2 tsp
Cold pressed oil of choice-1-2 Tbsp
Coriander leaves and stems-a few sprigs
Stone grinder for grinding
Method
Pour the oil into an iron kadai and set on medium heat.
Add the cumin seeds and when it is toasted ,add the potato peel , garlic, chillies and ginger. Add the salt ,spice powders.
Saute’ well until it all softens .Add the coconut and mix until it turns colour.
Take it off the heat. Let cool before grinding. Add the coriander sprigs while grinding.
It can be as coarse or as smooth a mixture as you like. Usually it is of a coarse lumpy texture, easy to roll into a ball.
This is served as a side with hot rice .
Link for the you tube video
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