BENGALURU: I grew up in a typical Punjabi family who love their spices in food. I remember going around with my friends during my college days to explore new taste from every corner. I have explored a variety of flavours to satisfy my taste buds.
A couple of years ago, I sneaked out from my hectic schedule and had a mini getaway with my friends to a place near Mumbai, which is also a monsoon weekend spot named Bhandardara. I had the best meal of my life. We had lunch at a place close to Bhandardara, it wasn’t a proper restaurant but it was more like a stall by the road. They served freshly caught fish grilled with a spicy condiment called Thecha. Well, I came across it for the first time in my life but it simply got me by surprise as to how delicious the condiment was. It was fantabulous in taste as it added a lot of flavour to the fish served.
Thecha is a basic sauce used by farmers and people in Maharashtra to add the extra spice to their dish. You can also simply eat the sauce with bakri/roti. So, Thecha is a wonderful combination of burnt chillies, garlic, peanuts, coriander, salt, lemon juice pounded with a little vegetable oil. To make this paste, I prefer going it the old school way by making it with grinding stone called Sil Batta.
It was simple but not easy to get the same flavour when I tried give it a smoked flavour. The level of spice and the hint of lemon was very much necessary. I tried adding Thecha to some of my recipes and the best combination I could find was with seafood.
Ingredients
Green chili - 50 g
Garlic - 20 g
Peanuts - 20 g
Coriander - 80 g
Rock salt - 10 g
Lemon - 1 no
Oil - 10 ml
Recipe
Heat a non-stick pan, add the peanuts and dry roast on a medium flame for 3 to 4 minutes, while stirring continuously.
Remove from the flame, remove the skin of the peanuts and keep it aside to cool.
Heat the oil in a non-stick pan, add the green chillies and mix well. Cover with a lid and cook on a medium flame for 2 minutes, while stirring occasionally.
Add the garlic, and sauté on a medium flame for 1 minute.
Allow the mixture to cool completely.
Once cooled, combine all the ingredients and blend in a mixer to a coarse mixture.
- Chef Amit Bajaj, Executive Chef, Glocal Junction