Batana Ghasi: Try This Udupi-Style Creamy Aloo-Matar Sabzi
Image Credit: Batana Ghasi

Potato and peas sabzi is that one bowl of winter comfort food whose recipe is reinvented all the time to continue loving this tremendously popular veg bowl. Udupi cuisine does not lie behind in the race as well and Batana Ghasi is clear evidence of this. Although this Potato Peas sabzi is not cooked with fresh peas, it has a creamy and tropical spiced taste. It fulfils the expectations for an aloo matar sabzi on all parameters but in its way and without tomatoes and onions. The ground masala of coconut, urad dal, coriander and cumin seeds helps achieve a delicious curry masala. Jaggery and tamarind take care of the intricate sweet-sour balance typical of Kannada food. 

Batana Ghasi is composed of two words, where Batana means peas in Kannada and Tulu, while Ghasi or Gashi refers to coconut-based thick gravy prepared using different vegetables. Ghasi or spicy coconut-based curries are a part of Konkani cuisine too and are usually eaten with rice for lunch and dinner.

South Indian food including Kannada cuisine is incomplete without coconut. Naturally so, with these regions being native to a coconut plantation in India and with the innumerable benefits of the fruit. Coconut is utilised in every form beginning from oil to coconut meat. Coconut is included in spicy dishes to give a distinctly tropical flavour and twist to the taste along with a few spices like chillies,  asafoetida, cumin and mustard seeds. The coconut paste-based ground masala used in almost all curries helps achieve a creamy and thick texture replacing high-calorie butter and cream.

Batana Ghasi 

Needless to say, the health benefits of coconut are so holistic and range from boosting the immune system to nourishing skin and hair. Here’s the recipe for Batana Ghasi.

Ingredients:

    1 ½ cup soaked peas 

    1 big potato 

    A small lemon-sized tamarind 

    A small piece of jaggery 

    2 tsp of salt 

For the masala paste:

    ¾ cup fresh coconut 

    2 tsp coriander seeds 

    1½ tsp cumin seeds 

    1½ tsp split black lentils (urad dal) 

    2 red chillies 

For the tempering: 

    2 tsp coconut oil 

    ½ tsp mustard seeds 

    ½ tsp split black gram lentils 

    1 red chilli

    A few curry leaves

Method:

    Take the dry peas in a pressure cooker, add water and salt to it and cook it up to 4 whistles.

    Take out the peas when the pressure releases and transfer them to a pan.

    To this add potato cubes and water and cook on low flame until the potatoes soften. 

    Meanwhile, add coconut, coriander and cumin seeds, roasted urad dal and red chillies to a blending jar. 

    Add water to it and grind it into a fine paste.

    Now, check the potatoes if they are cooked. 

    Then add jaggery, salt and turmeric powder to it and stir well.

    Then add the water of the tamarind soaked in water and mix everything well.

    Let it boil for 2 minutes.

    Then add the ground masala. Mix well and bring it to a boil. Turn off the flame.

    In a tadka pan, pour coconut oil, add mustard seeds, black gram lentils, red chillies, and curry leaves and let everything splutter.

    Add this tempering to the potato peas sabzi and stir once.

    Serve with rice and dal.