“Tingalavro- Kooka Gashi (White Beans- Chinese Potato Curry)” … gashi is a traditional dish from GSB Konkani Saraswat Cuisine prepared in various combos both with pluses and veggies … tastes best served with Ukde SheetHa/ Red Boiled Rice … try it, tastes awesome ... Yummilicious …
** Gashi, is a famous GSB Konkani Saraswat dish prepared almost in every home or during most of the functions/ celebrations. I have posted this many times with different combinations so will just share a common link to both veg. and non.veg preparations which you can browse through and choose from.
** Here I have prepared this gashi in combo of Tingalvaro (White Beans) and Kooka (Chinese Potato) which is in season now. Kooka is available around the months of November to January and I do make the best use of it in these 3 months to avoid any disappointment later, if it available, then do give it a try.
** Addition of tart veggies too is a matter of choice and as per season or availability. You can use any one of tart tasting fruit/ veggie mentioned like, bimbul (tree sorrel fruit), ambado (Hog Plum), karmbala (carmbola/ starfruit), ambuli (raw mango), harvo tomato (raw- green tomato), dried kokum, kudampuli etc. as is available region wise. In case you do not want to use them or are unavailable just add tamarind (chinchama/ Imly) while grinding masala which is followed in GSB Konkani Saraswat Cuisine.
** Here is my recipe for “Tingalavro- Kooka Gashi (White Beans- Chinese Potato Curry)” … My Style …
** Ingredients :
Tingalavro/ White Beans/ Navy Beans : 2 cups
Kooka/ Chinese Potato : 12-15 large sized
Salt/ Namak/ Meeta : to taste only if required
** For the Ground Masala :
Coconut/ Soyi/ Nariyal : 1 heaped cup
Kashmiri Red Chilly/ Byadgi Mirchi/ Kumte Mirsanga : 8-10
Tamarind/ Chinchama/ Imly : small marble sized piece
** For Tempering/ Pannaka/ Tadka :
Coconut Oil/ Nariyal Tel/ Narlel Tela : 1 tblsp
Mustard Seeds/ Rai/ Sasam : 1 tsp
Curry Leaves/ Kadipatta/ Karbevu : 8-10 fresh ones
** Wash and soak Tingalavro/ White Beans overnight or for 8-10 hours in plenty of water. Drain, rinse and pressure cooker with enough water say about an inch above level of the pulses to 1 whistle. Remove and let rest for the pressure to fall by itself. Open and check if cooked, if not you can pressure cook to another 1 whistle. The cooking time varies depending on pulses, usually one whistle is enough.
** Note : Soaking of Tingalavro/ White Beans is a procedure you must follow. Soaking of pulses/ beans etc. doubles them in size, turns it softer, releases nutrients stored within when cooked and is easy to digest. Some people go ahead and just add them into pressure cooker along with cooking soda, which in my opinion is highly avoidable. Cooking soda is not every good for health and its consumption should be limited to only when absolutely necessary. So prepare ahead by soaking and enjoy health benefits.
** About preparing Kooka/ Chinese Potato : Cleaning kooka/ chinese potato is the biggest task. I have changed my method of cleaning, but your can prepare it anyway that is suitable to you. Having said this, cleaning also depends upon the quality of the kooka available to you. In Mumbai, sometimes we get really good ones, that peel off easily while sometimes we don't. So I will add in a few methods of peeling of the skin and you may follow as per the variety you get using trial and error method.
** Method 1 : One way of peeling the outer skin is, You can either just use the potato peeler and peel the kooka's using it.
** Traditional Method : The traditional way is to put kooka in a gunny bag (Ghoni) and tightly packing it and then banging/ hitting it on to a stone firmly while rotating the bag all round as you go through the method. This loosen the skin and most of it comes off. Just scrub it with both hands retaining it within the gunny bag to loosen it more. This method is not used much now as it is difficult to access gunny bag. Even rice have been started to come in plastic type bags. If you have one, you can sure try this out. My mother used to make it this way and during childhood we used to loved doing it for her. We really did enjoying banging around the gunny bag to loosen the skin of kooka.
** My Method : I soak the required amount of kooka in plenty of water for about 5-10 mins, changing them a few times if they are too muddy. This loosens the dry mud that is sticking to the kooka. The I try loosening off the mud right there in the water by rubbing them between finger. Some kooka are well behaved and peel off easily, while some are stubborn and just don't listen making it difficult. So use the potato peeler and zap it comes out faster than when you run it on the drier one mentioned first.
** Important step of soaking in water once its peeled : It is very important to drop the skin peeled kooka/ chinese potato into water to prevent it getting discolored. So keep a bowl with plenty of water ready and drop the peeled kookas immediately into them. Once done, wash them in plenty of water, rinsing many times in fresh water and remember to keep it soaked in water till the preparation/ cooking time.
** Addition of Kooka/ Chinese Potato to this curry : After peeling the skin in any of the above mentioned method, wash it well in plenty of water and then cut it into 1 inch sized pieces depending upon the size of the kooka as they come in small and medium sizes. If large cut them into 2-3 pieces and if small, you can retain them whole as it is. Just follow your judgment and keep the cut pieces even sized. I have used about 15 large sized kooka which I cut into halves after cleaning them.
** Masala to be Ground : Add freshly grated coconut into a mixer grinder with kashmiri chillies, tamarind and grind to a very fine paste with little bit of water. You can use pulses cooked water for masala grinding purpose too, this is the procedure most us GSB's follow while grinding masala dishes, you may chose to do the same. The masala should be thick and ground to a very fine paste for best results.
** Add cut Kooka/ Chinese Potato pieces into a vessel with 1-2 cups of water and cook on medium heat until 80% cooked. Do not overcook the pieces lest they be mashed and not retain the shape. Add pressure cooked Tingalavro/ White Beans, the ground masala and mix well. Add more water only if necessary to bring the gravy to required curry consistency and bring to a boil on medium heat.
** When you see bubbles appearing on surface, lower the heat to minimum, add salt to taste, mix well and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes, stirring often to avoid it being burnt. Let the curry simmer on low heat while we go about preparing the tempering for the curry. Do not worry if the curry turns thick, you can always check and add some boiling water to adjust thickness of the curry just before serving.
** For Tempering/ Pannaka/ Tadka : Heat coconut oil in a small pan (you can use any edible oil you wish), when hot add mustard seeds, when they begin to splutter add fresh curry leaves, fry a few seconds and then pour it over the simmering curry and mix well. Remove curry from heat, cover with a lid and keep aside for atleast 20 minutes to rest for the flavors to seep into the curry well and it is ready.
** “Tingalavro- Kooka Gashi (White Beans- Chinese Potato Curry)” is done and ready to be served. Tastes best served with ukde sheetHa/ Red Boiled rice or any other rice during meals along with other dishes. However, If you do not prefer rice, you can serve the curry with roti, chapathi, paratha, idly or dosa, appos or even mildly spiced rice dishes. Enjoy this delicious gashi/ curry with your family- friends and do give me a feedback if possible, it helps me in improving myself and doing that much more.
** Sharing a common links to all “Gashi/ Tingalavro/ Kooka” recipes in the blog shared below, please browse through in leisure and try them ….
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Thanks.