Amarphal- Karmbala Bajji (Persimmon- Star Fruit BhartHa/ Chutney).

“Amarphal- Karmbala Bajji (Persimmon- Star Fruit BhartHa/ Chutney)” … change is the necessity of life in order to avoid stagnation … no matter how small, keep constantly giving small twists to develop skills and change from your routine methods … I have always loved trying out our own Konkani Dishes using other veggies, fruits etc. and it gives me immense pleasure when they turn out delicious … this time I tried out our own favorite bajji with semi ripe amarphal with karmbala and surprisingly it turned out delicious … you can relish it either with rice or roti too … Yummilicious ….

** Amarphal ie Persimmon/ Kaki is a fruit that was largely available in northern parts of India and was rarely available in southern parts. I had the opportunity to taste this fruit when one of my relative brought it from her tour to Shimla and it was so sweet and fleshy almost like mango. These are now available in Mumbai, thanks to globalization we now get to taste most of the fruits available all round the globe. However, the ones I purchase were slightly lesser sweeter in taste but I guess I should have let it rest so that they would turn ripe.

** Karmbala ie Carmbola/ Star Fruit too is now available almost all round the year at times though at selected outlets only. Somehow luckily I manage to find them many a times and I always buy a few so that I can add the to curry, prepare gojju or allow them to go ripe and prepare sweeter curries etc. You can also prepare pickles or brine them too though the shelf life is lesser compared to other pickles and I have yet to brine which I doubt if I will coz. there is no point to brine veggies available fresh through most of the months in year.

** For gojju, I have followed same method of preparing, similar to that with brinjal, tomatoes etc. from Konkani Saraswat Cuisine. I am always intrigued with our versatile dishes that really turn out great with given twists. Hat’s off to our ancestors who created them with so much expertise that even giving twist to them turn out so well. Please do try giving changes to dishes and make them more interesting to savor as when you stick to routine methods one really tends to get bored or the desire to relish somehow gets diminished.

** Bajji is actually BhartHa as called elsewhere dish wherein the veggies are roasted on flame/ gas till the outer skin is charred. It is then cooled and the skin peeled of after which the inner fleshy portion is cleaned well to remove all skin if any and then mashed and prepared into chutney form. As I was not sure how the fruit would turn out if roasted on flame, I just pressure cooked them and prepared the same which is what I follow nowadays with other veggies too to avoid a mess it creates on the gas stove when roasted.

** Here my very own concoction of “Amarphal- Karmbala Bajji (Persimmon- Star Fruit BhartHa/ Chutney)”, a simple but must try recipe if these are available in your vicinity ….

** Wash and wipe dry 2 semi ripe Amarphal (persimmon/ kaki) fruits and then with the help of a sharp knife cut into 4 pieces and then slice off the outer skin as thin as possible. Discard the inner seeds and cut into smaller pieces and put it into a pressure cooker pan.

** Wash and wipe dry 3 large sized semi ripe Karmbala (carmbola/ star fruit) and with the help of sharp knife slice off thinly the ridge portion and the two sides too. Now cut them into small pieces, discard seeds and then add them into pressure cooker too.

** Add about 1 cup of water into the pressure cooker pan and then pressure cook on medium heat to 2-3 whistles or till the Amarphal and Karmbala are cooked soft and mushy. Let the pressure drop on its own and then open and allow to cool a little bit.

** If the ingredients are cooked soft and mushy it will become easier to mash them with the help of a potato masher which is the right way to prepare bajji, if not you can use mixer grinder and using pulse mode just whip it up a few times to avoid making it too smooth.

** Add prepared pulp into a vessel, check consistency and add water only if necessary. I have added 1 tblsp of hinga uddaka (prepared hing water) a method which we GSB Konkani Saraswat follow using gummy hing, however you can use powder too but when seasoning.

** Crush with a stone/ heavy weight/ mixer grinder or chopper 4-5 green chillies (tarni mirsanga/ hari mirchi) or just cut them lengthwise and add to the bajji in the vessel along with salt (namak/ meeta) to taste, hing (asafoetida) water and mix well.

** For Seasoning/ Tempering/ Pannaka : Heat 1 tblsp Coconut Oil (narlel tela/ nariyal tel), when hot add ½ tsp urad dal (Black gram dal), when it turns slightly in color add in ½ tsp of methi (fenugreek) seeds, ½ tsp mustard seeds (rai/ sasam).

** When it begins to crackle, "If you have not used hing water" add in ½ tsp of hing (asafoetida) powder now and then add a few curry leaves (kadipatta/ karbevu), fry for a few seconds, then pour it over the prepared and kept bajji.

** Note : Add either hinga uddaka (prepared hing water) or hing powder, do not add them on both or it will be too strong and turn out bitter. While prepared hing water can be added directly into the bajji, if using powder, you must add it to seasoning.

** Cover and keep it aside for 10 minutes for the flavors to infuse within before serving and it is ready to be served. Remains good at room temperature only for about 2 hours or so. So if you need to serve it later store it in fridge and serve thawed a little bit before serving.

** “Amarphal- Karmbala Bajji (Persimmon- Star Fruit BhartHa/ Chutney)” is done and ready to be served as a side dish along with other dishes for lunch. Surprisingly I found that it tasted great with chapati, as normally bajji is served with rice and other dishes.

** Bajji is close on the heels of gulla (brinjal), tomato bajji without any changes whatsoever in preparation method. In southern parts bimbul (tree fruit sorrel) is available in plenty which is used extensively in dishes, star fruit is very close in all ways to bimbul, so is its taste.

** In Mumbai we do not get bimbul unless someone has planted the tree or so, so the best choice for substitute is karmbala/ starfruit which is similar in composition and taste and these are available at some place if not all, so I try adding them on whenever possible.

** There are many more dishes with addition of Karmbala which you can use search option and browse through too. I will try including more dishes with Amarphal too as and when I prepare, do try them out and enjoy with your family, stay safe, spread happiness.