Everyday

Santula

ସନ୍ତୁଳା

Barely any oil, whatever is in the basket, twenty minutes. The dish an Odia kitchen makes when nobody is coming.

By Sasmita ·1,240 reads

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Prep time
15min
Cook time
20min
Total time
35min
Serves
4
Pot
3 litre pressure cooker, plus a small pan for the tempering

Ingredients

servings

4serves

Which version

Boiled, no onion, finished with raw mustard oil.

Onion and garlic

Temple and traditional style. The bhaja jeera and ghee stay in front — it tastes better this way.

Set how many you're feeding and everything below re-measures itself.

4servings

Cook for at least two. A single portion barely covers the bottom of the pot, so the water dries before the vegetables soften and the tempering has nothing to sit in.

Some things aren't sold outside India. Tell me where you're cooking and I'll swap them.

  • 1Potato
  • 1 cup
  • 1 cupBaigana (brinjal)
  • 1Ridge gourd
  • 1Tomato

Tempering and finish

  • 2Green chillies, slit
  • ½ tsp
  • ½ tspTurmeric, plus salt
  • 1 tbspMustard oil
  • ¼ cupMilk (optional)

Method

  1. Cut everything the same size

    Roughly an inch. Uneven pieces mean the potato is raw when the gourd is mush.

    At 4 servingsUse the 3 litre pot. The water should sit about a finger's width above the vegetables.

    Cut vegetables on the board, showing how large the pieces should be.

  2. Boil with turmeric and salt

    Add the chillies and just enough water to cover. Cook covered until soft.

    At 4 servings3 whistles, or 20–25 minutes in an open pot.
  3. Mash lightly

    Four or five strokes. The vegetables should still be recognisable.

  4. Finish with raw mustard oil

    Off the heat, with a slit green chilli. This is where the flavour is.

Where it goes wrong

Adding water to bhaja santulaIt becomes sadha santula. The vegetables release enough of their own.
Cutting unevenlyThe potato is raw when the gourd is mush.
Heating the finishing oilIt goes in raw, at the end.

At home this was the dish for the days nobody had decided anything. Whatever was in the basket, one pot, twenty minutes.

Write the real memory here after cooking it — that paragraph is the thing no other site can copy.

Keeping and serving

Two days refrigerated. Reheat gently; it dries out.

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