The way my mother cooked this usal- absolutely no masalas, no oil, no garlic/ginger onion and still the aroma of usal leaps out of the pressure cooker memories, pressure cooker because the matki had to be pressure cooked till soft. Then aai kept a bit of matki aside to be made into misal or simply mix it with lemon juice and finely chopped onions and coriander so that dad could have it with his drink.
So here goes the recipe for this usal.
Soak the matki overnight and then bundle it in a pice of cloth (preferable a pice off the pancha)
the matki has to grow sprouts that are nice and long and thick and that come out of the skin of the cloth. Thats your sign that the matki is ready to be cooked. Please cook the matki in the cooker- full on 6 or 7 whistles.
coriander- finely chopped
coconut- grated or if you have a vili then you have to use it to get grated coconut
heat oil in a pan, add jeera or mustard (as you like it)
add turmeric, chilli powder, asafoedita/ hing
add gul (jaggery)
add a bit of coconut and coriander to the phodni and then add the pressure cooked usal and let it simmer for 5 ro 6 minutes or till you see that the matki has soaked up the juices of the seasoning. Sprinkle the remaining coriander and coconut over the top and you are ready to eat it with hot phulkey and dahi.
I love having rice with curds and milk and add udal to it. Brilliant!
ALternatively you can also add finely choped onion, tomatoes and garlic to the phodni and lots of chilli powder so that the usal travel a bit to kolhapur. You can have it with pav.
Happy eating!
