I come from a mixed background. My mom is a brahmin married to a Kayastha. So today let’s talk about the kayastha cuisine and it’s history a little.
The Kayasths are members of the Hindu caste that was not a part of the Brahminical varna system of Vedic society, which divides Hindus into four distinct classes – Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. The Kayasths emerged around the time of the early Mughals as record-keepers.
Cooking was very seasonal. Summer meals were more of karela , torai, red gram with raw mangoes. I remember one afternoon my aji showed me the art of a perfect mangori. She took little bits of ground moong dal in pinches between her thumb and ring finger and dropped the little pearls on clean plastic sheets, in neat rows. The mangori had to be tiny and of even size.
The reciepe today I am going to share is the” Kayastha Tahiri Pulao”
Ingredients: Ghee, onions, mangori(sandge), rice , khada garam masala( badi elaichi, tej patta and dalchini) green chilly, green peas and salt
Method:
Take 2tbsp ghee in a vessel and deep fry about 1 cup of mangori and keep aside. Then add sliced onions( 1 big onion) in the ghee and saute. Add 2 badi eliachi , small piece of dalchini and 1-2 tej patta. Add 1 cup washed and soaked rice ( basmati) and saute it until it leaves it’s aroma. Add about hald cup of green peas and mangori just saute once and then add water and salt and let the rice cook. Garnish with coriander and serve.
Bon appetite!!
Ajichabatva 