#BTExperts Chef Saransh Goila Shares The Perfect Comfort Food Recipe That Looks As Good As It Tastes

A steaming bowl of delicious stew or a gooey, warm slice of chocolate cake with a side of vanilla ice cream- comfort food comes in various shapes and sizes, massaging the heart and making you feel good.

But, for most of us, the good ol' homecooked meal comes pretty close to perfection. If you think the traditional ghar ka khaana is your version of soul food, so does Chef Saransh Goila. The man that has everyone making a beeline for his scrumptious version of Butter Chicken on their cheat days, has a rather humble and equally delicious comfort food.

'I wholeheartedly believe in the concept of comfort food! My comfort food is Sindhi Kadhi and Matar Chawalabecause that is what I grew up eating. If I had an option I would eat this every day. My mom is a Sindhi so whenever I eat this it reminds me of her, home and that makes me feel really nostalgic. It makes me feel at home and it has a lot of veggies and carbs...and carbs make you happy! It's a lot of love in a bowl for me.

Sindhi Kadhi (Fried vegetables cooked in gram flour and tamarind curry.)

Ingredients

1½ tbsp refined oil

3 tbsp gram flour (besan)

1 tsp fenugreek (methi) seeds

1½ tsp turmeric (haldi) powder

3 lt water

2 potatoes

500 gm tomatoes

1 drum stick (optional)

1 long or 2 small pieces of lotus stem

1 big or 2 small cauliflower

200 gm Colocasia (arbi)

200 gm okra (behind)

Salt to taste (4 tsp approximately)

3 lemon-sized balls of tamarind (imli), soaked in 1 cup warm water for 2 hours

Oil for frying

1½ tsp mustard (sarson) seeds

20-25 curry leaves (kari patta)

1½ tsp cumin (jeera)

2 tsp red chilli powder

2 tbsp coriander leaves (dhania patti), chopped

Put refined oil in a deep vessel. Once hot, shallow fry gram flour until golden brown. Do this on a very low flame for about 15 minutes. Add the fenugreek seeds just as it starts to change colour. Once it is golden brown, add turmeric powder and after a few seconds add all the water to it. With the water add cubed potatoes as they take longest to cook; let it all come to a boil. Then reduce the flame to medium.

Purée the tomatoes and add to the vessel. Let the kadhi simmer away on a low flame for an hour.

In the meanwhile, heat water in another small pot. Chop drum sticks into three-inch pieces and lotus stem into one-inch pieces. Parboil these and keep them aside. Also, heat the oil for frying after parboiling is done. Deep fry cauliflower florets, colocasia and okra till golden brown. While frying add some salt to the veggies. After the kadhi has simmered for an hour, add parboiled lotus stem and drum sticks to it. After another 10 minutes add the fried cauliflower, colocasia and okra together.

Now strain the thick tamarind water which was soaked two hours back. Add this to the kadhi and simmer for another 10 minutes. For tempering, heat the oil in a tempering or small frying pan. To the hot oil add mustard seeds, curry leaves, cumin seeds and red chilli powder and add this tempering to the kadhi. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot kadhi with peas pulao or steamed rice.

Bon appétit!