Gajar Ki Kaanji

Gajar Ki Kaanji

Saturday, February 20, 2021

Seasonal pickles (like this radish pickle) are one of the tastiest ways to get more varied microbes for the tummy. I am telling you about a fermented drink called Kanji in the north India. This is Kaale gaajar ki kaanji, a fermented drink made by purple/black carrots.

This is an easy process, you just need to have a large glass or ceramic jar with lid. Mason jars are the best but you can do with any nonreactive jars with lids. Traditionally the jars were covered by thin muslin allowing aerobic fermentation so that can be done if you wish.

 Ingredients..

• purple black carrots/ beets/turnips/ red carrots 500 gm total
• yellow mustard powered 4 tbsp
• red chilly powder 1 tbsp
• pink salt or Himalayan salt (sendha namak) 1/4 cup
• black salt or rock salt (kala namak) 1 tbsp
• filtered water 5 L

The purple carrots provide a nice color owing to the presence of pigments (read antioxidants) so it is preferred for this drink. Beets work well too with a slightly changed flavor. The desi red winter carrots also work well but the drink has a very dull and boring color. A combination of beets and carorts would work really well if you don't get purple carrots. I add a few slices of turnips too for added flavor. Use more of the purple carrots or beets and about 10% of turnips or red carrots by weight to get a nice color.

procedure...

Sterilize the jars, knives and chopping board to be used for the process.

Wash, clean and chop the carrots in batons. Slice the beets and turnips too if using.

Mix all the other ingredients with water and dissolve. The mustard powder will keep floating on top.

Place all the chopped carrots and turnips in a glass jar or divide into smaller jars if you don't have one big mason jar. Pour the pickling solution into the jar filling it to the brim. The carrots will float initially but will submerge into the colored water by the next day. Do not worry even if they don't submerge just keep pushing them with a clean spoon everyday. These jars will be kept on a sunny windowsill or in a warm place for a week or till you taste the fermented pickling solution to be sour.

Filter the dark pink/purple colored pickling solution that is the tasty drink ready for you. Adjust seasoning, you might like to add some more of black salt to the drink or some more red chilly if you like it a little hot. Fill the drink in glass bottles and refrigerate for up to a month.

The pickled carrot batons can be served on the side of your meals. They make nice addition to salads and can be had independently too. Chopped finely, they can also be added to some creamy type soups or cold dips as well.

 The pickled carrot batons also have the probiotic benefits as these also carry the live culture. So use them freely everyday.

The drink makes a nice welcome drink for your guests as well, traditionally it is served with meals just like buttermilk is served in Gujrat and some southern states and Sol kadi is served in Goa and Maharashtra.

You can also soak lentil fritters (like urad daal vadas) into this fermented drink for a few hours and have it alongside your meals or as a snack. That is called Kanji vada.

Other convenient ways to incorporate friendly bacteria to our foods.

• Pickled vegetables like cucumbers, cabbage (as in kimchi and saurekraut), Olives, chilies, onions and even garlic. The vegetables can be pickled with just some salt, they get digested by  some airborne bacteria and become good probiotic food for us.
• Fermenting the dosa and idli batter like it is done traditionally in South India is the great way of having the grains in a more suitable way and introducing our body with some probiotic food as well.
• Fermented bread dough is also good but it's always better to have sourdough breads than industrial yeast. Sourdough results form natural fermentation that involves the activity of many strains of bacteria.
• Drinks like Kombucha, toddy, fenni* are all traditional and have been traditionally used.

• Many cultures use a fermented rice drink or porridge mixed with raw onions and green chilies. This savory porridge is a great way to start the day.

• Miso, fish/oyester sauce etc also are good prebiotic foods.
• Yogurt and buttermilk is the most common but pasteurized milk doesn't support many bacteria other than lactobacillus to grow and milk. 

I would like to hear from you if you liked this article and if you try this drink.

Cheers with a healthy drink..

PS: *As pointed out by Anurag Mehrotra in the comment section, Fenni is doubted to have probiotic microbes owing to double distillation, but Urack is a better probiotic drink originating from the same cashew apple juice.

Pineapple kanji : a kanji made with pineapple peels....

Pineapple kanji : a kanji made with pineapple peels....

 I never knew pineapple peels would pack in so much flavors. I have been experimenting with fermented drinks and salads for ever. Having worked in a microbiology lab keeps the fire ignited all the time, the friendly microbes are always close to heart. I started experimenting with this pineapple kanji 2 years ago when a few carrots were dug out from the garden and those were too fibrous to eat. I usually would soak them in water and required spices to make the kanji but that particular day I was peeling a large ripe pineapple for my salads. It used to be a pain to see so much of juicy bits of pineapple flesh being wasted along with the tough spiny skin. I did an experiment that day.

The pineapple was cleaned before peeling with a soft brush under running water to clean everything from the rough skin. Then it was peeled as I would do so normally. All the peels and small bits that come with the 'eyes' were thrown into the kanji jar along with the 2 fibrous carrots. A wonderfully refreshing drink was ready after a week and I was amazed at how much flavors the pineapple skin still retained.

Later I started making kanji with just the pineapple peels and pith. The carrots were skipped conveniently. After all carrot kanji is a different thing to enjoy on it's own.

Actually the skin and the pith of the pineapple is quite rich in Bromelain, the digestive enzyme that helps digest dense proteins easily and the vitamin C andManganese content of the fruit is very high hence the anti oxidant property of this fruit. Manganese helps absorb and utilise many other nutrients and it makes pineapple one of the healthiest foods.

So when we enjoy all this goodness in the edible flesh of the fruit, why should we waste such nutrients that we can harvest from the peel and pith as well?

The last batch of my pineapple kanji was ready today, ready to be strained and a bottle of 2 month old kanji was still lying around. You would be surprised to know this pineapple kanji is stable at room temperature once it is fermented well. Just add ice cubes in summers and have at room temperature in winters. It is a refreshing drink that you can have one glass everyday. Add soda to it and it becomes tingling smacking good.

Here is the bottle of 2 months old kanji, a freshly fermented pineapple kanji ready to be strained and a pineapple being peeled, it's fresh peel and pith ready to make another batch. No I am not mad, I just love what I do.

This is the 2 months old pineapple kanji with ice cubes.

The contents of the fermenting jar are strained to discard all the peel now that we have extracted out flavors from it. The kanji has a really kicking taste of pineapples and the tangy taste of the usual kanji owing to mustard seeds and red chilly powder..

And the jar was emptied, cleaned and a new batch was filled in to ferment...

I added 2 liters of filtered water, 2 tsp of mustard seeds, 1 tsp red chilly powder and 1 tbsp table salt. Peels and pith of half a pineapple went into this jar. 

This is a simple recipe to be followed. Keep this mix into a lidded jar and let it ferment for 5-7 days. This jar can be kept at your windowsill or on the highest loft of your pantry where some ambient light reaches. I have never tried fermenting it in dark but there shouldn't be a problem if you keep the jar in a dark pantry as well.

The amount of mustard added is lesser than kaali gajar ki kanji just because the pungency of mustard would kill the refreshing taste and aroma of pineapples. Mustard seeds initiate fermentation and once the culture has set in, starting form the ambient mix of yeast strains, the culture keeps growing till the fermenting mix is stable. Red chilly provides ambient lactobaccili and a few more mesophilic bacteria for sure.

I am not sure what would be the percentage of acetic acid, alcohol and aldehydes in this drink, as I never tested it, but the drink is stable at room temperature unlike carrot kanji that keeps getting more sour at room temperature and has to be refrigerated for longer use. May be the Bromelaine or a high amount of ascorbic acid present in pineapple helps stabilise the drink but it is a great result for kanji lovers for sure.

Also, keeping the strained liquid for a week or so clears the turbidity and a crystal clear drink is yours to relish. See how the jug has a turbid liquid (the freshly strained kanji) and the bottle has crystal clear drink that looks gorgeous.

Read more about benefits of fermented foods here.

Please note that Kanji is wrongly judged as an 'acquired taste' (indicating it is foul smelling and weird tasting), but if your kanji is smelling foul it means the culture has become contaminated. Discard the kanji or kanji culture if it tastes foul. A thin white layer of mould will be seen on the fermenting kanji, just keep mixing it so no new strains of contaminants get a chance to grow in the same culture. This kanji has strong overtones of pineapple, sourness of the fermented sugars and a hint of sharp heat provided by chilly and mustard. A very intriguing mix of flavors in fact.

Ask me questions if you want to ferment your own kanji and something makes you feel nervous. I wish I could make you smell and taste this drink now.
A few of my friends have already started making this :-)

I made this kanji with peels of watermelon as well, the white pith was used, the green skin was discarded. The drink was tasty and sour as a kanji should be, but not as refreshing and aromatic as this pineapple kanji, neither as colorful as kali gajar ki kanji. But the watermelon rinds become a nice pickle after you make the kanji. So if you like pickled carrots or watermelon peels you can make the kanji with those as well. For me, pineapple kanji is a winner and I don't bother making watermelon peel kanji anymore.

There will be many more jars and bottles of pineapple kanji happening here...