Katachi Amti Recipe Whiskaffair

on Apr 27, 2022, Updated Oct 22, 2023 Here are a few more Maharashtrian recipes you can try at home: Maharashtrian Masale Bhat, Green Chilli Thecha, Taak, Misal Pav, and Kolhapuri Egg Curry.

About Katachi Amti

Katachi Amti is a thin Maharashtrian lentil recipe prepared with chana dal, jaggery, tamarind, and freshly ground coconut paste. It is tangy, spicy, slightly sweet, and bursting with incredible flavors. Traditionally, leftover water from cooking the chana dal for puran poli is used to make katachi amti, whereas cooked chana dal is used to make puran poli stuffing. This Katachi amti recipe can also be made if you cook chana dal to make chana dal kababs, chana dal sundal, chana dal paratha, or faree. I also make it whenever I cook chana dal to make the stuffing for my Aloo Tikki recipe. It is served with puran poli, especially during Maharashtrian festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi and Gudi Padwa. You can also serve it with plain steamed rice for a comforting weekday meal. I cooked the dal in my 3-quart instant pot (or 3-liter pressure cooker). To scale the recipe, use a 6-quart instant pot (or a 5-6 liter pressure cooker). The cooking time will remain the same.

For The Ground Paste

A freshly ground paste is made with dry coconut, white sesame seeds (til), cinnamon (dalchini), green cardamoms (hari elaichi), cloves (laung), and black peppercorns (kali mirch). You can replace dry coconut with fresh coconut too.

For The Tempering

To temper the amti, you will need vegetable oil, brown mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, asafetida (hing), turmeric powder, and Kashmiri red chili powder. Avoid adding asafetida (hing) to make it gluten-free. You can also add onions in tempering to make the Katachi amti more flavorful. Add a little garam masala to spice it up further. Once the dal is soaked, drain the water and add the soaked dal to an instant pot. Add 3 cups of water and close the lid of the instant pot. Once the timer goes off, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes. Release the remaining pressure manually and open the lid of the instant pot. Strain the cooked dal using a fine-mesh strainer and reserve the strained stock to make katachi amti. Use the cooked dal to make Puran Poli. Note – To cook the dal in a traditional pressure cooker, cook on high heat for one whistle, then reduce the heat to low and cook for another 15 minutes.

1 tablespoon grated dry coconut 1 teaspoon white sesame seeds 1-inch piece of cinnamon stick 2 whole green cardamoms 2-3 cloves 2-3 black peppercorns

Add the roasted ingredients to a blender jar along with ¼ cup water and blend to make a smooth paste. Add the following ingredients and mix well.

2 teaspoon tamarind pulp 2 teaspoon grated jaggery 1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder ½ teaspoon turmeric powder

Add a little water if you like thinner amti, and bring it to a boil once. Once the oil is hot, add the following ingredients and let them crackle for 4-5 seconds.

½ teaspoon brown mustard seeds ½ teaspoon cumin seeds 10-12 curry leaves ¼ teaspoon asafetida