All about kanji that is consumed for Ramzan in South India-FORWARD Home chefs share their own takes on nonbu kanji, thegruel that is eaten when breaking fast during Ramzan in South India
March 28, 2024 04:00 pm | Updated 04:22 pm IST NahlaNainar The delicious dishes prepared for evening iftar andpre-dawn suhour meals during the Islamic month of Ramzan have become a subjectof food tourism, especially on social media, where kebabs, samosas, rolls and amyriad other fried snacks rule the roost, alongside sugary milkshakes andjuices. But crowning it all, quietly, is the nonbu kanji, a mushyporridge that is prepared fresh every day in Muslim households and mosquesacross southern India. Consumed only during iftar, when the day’s fast comesto an end, nonbu kanji is comfort food for the abstaining soul, aromatic likebiryani, but without the grease and curried aesthetics of the rice dish. It is considered to be easier todigest after long hours of abstinence from food and water. The kanji’s variants include the Arab gruel ‘harees’,and, closer home, the Hyderabadi ‘haleem’ and ‘khichra’. All these recipesinvolve slow cooking wheat and lentils with butter and seasoned mutton, beef orpoultry to a mash. The nonbu kanji’s warm and fuzzy presence on theiftar table makes it the perfect foil for accompaniments like samosas, pakodas,mint chutney, or pickles. A Ramzan staple “No matter howmany dishes one makes, the nonbu kanji remains a staple of the iftar menu. InSouth India, where it is regularly prepared in neighbourhood mosques as well ashomes during Ramzan, each street can have its own distinctive style andflavour,” says Hazena Sayed, a food blogger from Tirunelveli who has documented300 traditional recipes of the Ravuther Muslim community, and runs the sautefrynbake.comwebsite. “My knowledgeof cooking is a blend of my mother’s recipes, with a link to her Keraliteheritage, and my mother-in-law’s Tamil style of food preparation,” says Hazena,who grew up in Coimbatore. Her fondest memory is of ‘jeeraga kanji’, made by her grandmother,with the porridge of samba rice and moong dal thickened using ground coconutpaste towards the end. With the delicate seasoning of ‘jeeragam’ (cumin), thekanji would once make for a sumptuous start to iftar, she recalls. “The use ofingredients depends on the region. Kanji is made with coconut milk extractrather than paste in the coastal town of Kayalpattinam, which we have picked upin Tirunelveli too, whereas in some of the interior towns, kanji is temperedwith mint leaves flash-fried in hot ghee. Coconut and fresh mint are essentialto the kanji flavour profile,” she says. Chutneys are amust. “Brinjal is boiled or char-grilled, and then mashed with spices into a paste. We alsouse boiled yam and colocasia, or shallots and dried red chillies to makechutneys,” says Hazena. Among her own spins to the kanji, are a version thatuses oats and cabbage instead of rice, and the kaima urundai kanji wheremincemeat balls are cooked in coconut milk before they are added to the basmatirice gruel. Easy to share “Ramzan is notjust about feasting. It is more about sharing our food with the lessprivileged, and a dish like nonbu kanji is the ideal example of this,” saysZulfia Syed, an engineer-turned-YouTuber who creates culinary content fromTirunelveli and the United Arab Emirates through her channel Zulfia’s Recipes. “It isnot easy to make a small serving, because a cup of rice cooked as kanji can feed at least eightpeople. Since the quantity can be scaled up, nonbu kanji is best for masscatering during Ramzan, especially in mosques. The pressure cooker has made iteasier for home cooks to make kanji at home in smaller measures. Caterersusually prepare the gruel over firewood stoves and leave it on ‘dum’ (heatcompress) for a few hours before serving it t. This gives a different taste to thefinal dish,” she says. Kanji can be ameal in itself, which is why Zulfia advises home cooks to be sparing with the measurementswhen making it at home. “A small family of four needs only a few heapedtablespoons of rice and lentils to make a generous serving,” she says. “The fragrance of nonbu kanjiannounces to the world that something special is being cooked. Thebiryani-like aroma tantalises people living next door, even though it is just asimple gruel that is being prepared. We add carrots and beans to the ricemixture, to make it more nutritious and suitable for our vegetarian friends,”says Ayesha Begum, a Tiruchi-based homemaker. My note- I watcheda news item about Nombu kanji in Malayalamanorama news channel day before yesterday, preparingin very large vessels in Malappuram,Kerala every day during ramzan. It can be consumed by all communities attending and offered FREE.Actually the cooks are from Coimbatore, bringing all the required items from Coimbatore. This forward is from an article appeared in Yahooopening page today. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/122756191.1446412.1711694194991%40mail.yahoo.com.
