Shevagyachya Shenganchi Bhaji (Drumstick Curry)-Day Five of Blogging Marathon

Day Five of Blogging Marathon created by the lovely Srivalli finds us having "Shevagyachya Shenganchi Bhaji which means Drumstick Curry..
This is in continuation with Regional Specialty Cuisine and this cuisine belongs to Maharashtra...

This is a typical sabji (curry) prepared in most of Maharastrian families.....
My grandparents had a wonderful garden outside their house and they grew many fruits and vegetables in it .....There were two big shevagyachi zade ( trees bearing drumsticks)....
My father and his two sisters along with their cousins reminiscence numerous childhood tales and anecdotes as to how they all would play hide and seek and climb the trees when they were hiding......They used to have competitions on who would climb the trees fastest or furthest...
Or when they ran and climbed the trees in order to avoid getting punished......
But the most funniest anecdote was shared by my father's cousin sister......She was always getting into trouble with her mother (my father's maasi/aunt).....
Once when she did something wrong and her mother wanted to punish her,she ran all over the house and in the garden with her mother in hot pursuit........Thinking quickly and being agile, she climbed one of the biggest tree in the garden to avoid getting caught and punished ...... But to the amusement of all and to the complete horror of the daughter, her mother (my father's mausi /aunt) promptly followed her without batting an eyelid.......The mother proceeded to climb the same tree, in saree and all, with complete ease and agility and caught hold of her daughter.......
Your guess is as good as mine as to what awaited the daughter after being caught by her mother on the big tree...........
Whenever any of the kids saw any drumsticks hanging on the trees, they would promptly pluck them and take them to my grandmother,who would promptly cook the delicious drumstick either with curry or dry drumstick sabji, which tastes equally good........The drumsticks were the family favorite in any and every form....
The drumsticks would be distributed to family, friends and neighbours as was the practice in those days......
And some of the neighbours would request (farmaish) on eating the drumstick curry prepared by my grandmother, who was a very good cook... so in the customary way of good old days, the bowl filled with delicious drumstick curry would be exchanged on the wall common to both the houses....and after relishing the curry, the neighbours would send the bowl filled with delicacies/goodies from their house back to my father's house ...... The bowl would find its way back to the house through the common wall filled with delicacies for my father's family to savor......And the traditional bowl exchange would continue...... Every time, something different or someone's favorite was cooked by my grandmother, it was promptly dispatched to the said neighbour's house and vice versa.....The kids could go to any neighbouring house and have food... The lady of the house always cooked extra helping, keeping in mind any guest/neighbour who come for lunch or dinner, unannounced or uninvited, but who was always welcomed warmly.... Those were the days when one did not feel shy eating in neighbouring houses, uninvited and it was not customarily to send prior intimation of one's visit beforehand......
It was an unspoken rule that whenever someone gave you some bowl/vessel full of food , it had to be refilled with some food or eatable from your house when you return it back....."Khaali Bartan Nahi Lautate" (Never return an empty bowl)

My grandmother passed away in April last year but her memories are still fresh with all of us......

So today's post is about Shevagyachya Shenganchi Bhaji (Drumstick Curry) and the lovely memories associated with it.........

Shevagyachya Shenganchi Bhaji (Drumstick Curry)

Ingredients :
Drumsticks - 6 to 8
Onions - 2
Tomatoes - 2
Ginger- 1 inch
Garlic - 5/6 cloves
Tamarind - 2/3 soaked in hot water
Jaggery - as per taste
Salt - as per taste
Dry coconut grated - 1 cup
Oil
Water
Coriander Leaves - 1 cup
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida (hing) - 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - pinch
Coriander powder (dhania) - 2 teaspoon
Cumin powder (jeera powder) - 2 teaspoon
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Goda Masala - 1 teaspoon

Method -
First take tamarind and soak it in hot water for 2/3 hours
Slice the onions vertically.
Grate the dry coconut.
On a pan/tawa, roast the onions and coconut for 5 minutes .
Grate the tomatoes.
Grind the roasted onions, grated coconut,grated tomatoes,coriander leaves, garlic and ginger into a fine paste.
Heat oil in a bottom pan/ kadhai .
When oil is heated, add mustard seeds.
After they splutter, add cumin seeds, asafoetida,turmeric and then add the paste from the mixture.
Add goda masala,red chilli powder, coriander powder and cumin powder.
Stir the paste and let it cook for 5 minutes in the oil.
Peel the skins of drumstick and cut them into small pieces.
Add the drumsticks to the mixture and cover the pan with lid.
Let the drumsticks cook for 10/15 minutes,depending on the freshness of the drumsticks.
If the drumsticks are not tender enough, they may be steamed for 5 minutes before adding them to the paste.
After they have been properly cooked, add water.
Add tamarind, jaggery and salt.
Cover it with a lid and let it cook for 10/15 more minutes.
Uncover the lid and drumstick curry is ready to be served.
Garnish with some coriander leaves.......

And also due apologies for the poor quality of the photos but due to my computer and camera mishaps, I lost my photographs of this dish and had to make do with my mobile....

Take a look at my wonderful fellow marathon bloggers and see what they were upto :
Azeema, Bhagi, Champa, Gayathri Anand, Gayathri Kumar, Harini, Jay, Meena, Minu, Padma,
Pavani, PJ, Priya Mahadevan, Priya Suresh, Priya Vasu, Santosh, Saraswathi, Savitha, Shanavi,
Smitha, Sowmya, Srivalli, Suma, Usha, Veena

This wonderful and delicious "Shevagyachya Shenganchi Bhaji (Drumstick Curry)"also finds it way to PJ for her blogevent "Flavors of Maharashtra" which is hosted by her this month for Naina of simply.food for her event......

Come back tomorrow for the Day Six the Blogging Marathon.......