Punjabi Cuisine

Question 1

What is chakla belan

Answer 1

Chakla belan: Chakla is a small marble or wooden platform and belan is the rolling pin. These are usually made up of wood. They are used for rolling the dough to make various Indian breads such as chapattis and puris.

Question 2

Khadai

Answer 2

it is a deep, concave utensil made up of brass, iron or aluminium and is used for deep fat frying and also general cooking.

Question 3

Khadoos kas

Answer 3

This equipment has sharp grooves of different sizes meant for grating.

Question 4

Channai

Answer 4

is used to sieve or sift flour and commodities of similar nature. The channani can have removable inserts that have varied sizes of holes for coarse or fine sieving

Question 5

Masala dani

Answer 5

It literally translates to ‘spice box’. It contains the commonly used dry spices, both whole and powdered.

Question 6

Pauni

Answer 6

A perforated spoon used for frying food commodities.

Question 7

Karchi

Answer 7

Karchi (ladle): It is actually a big round spoon for stirring dal or mixing food or even serving it.

Question 8

Tawa

Answer 8

Tawa: This flat base equipment is usually made of cast iron is used for making Indian breads such as roti and parathas. They are available in various sizes, depending upon the uses.

Question 9

Patiala

Answer 9

Patiala: It is generally made up of brass and comes with a lid. It is used when something has to be sauted, boiled or simmered. It is also used for making gravies and cooking in bulk. These are also available in various sizes.

Question 10

Tandoor

Answer 10

Tandoor: It is a clay oven chamber, which is lit with live charcoal. It is used for baking various Indian breads, kebabs (boti, white meat, fish, prawn etc)and other items.

Question 11

Bhatti

Answer 11

Bhatti: It is used for grilling kebabs. It is an open fire grill, where coal is the only medium of fire.

Question 12

Khoncha

Answer 12

Khoncha: It is a flat metal spoon used for stir frying or sautéing the ingredients.

Question 13

Chimta

Answer 13

Chimta: These are meant for holding the hot objects e.g. the roti on the open fire or the griddle, turning items in hot oil while deep fat frying.

Question 14

Hamam dista

Answer 14

Hamam dista (mortar and pestle): It is a pair of tools used to crush, grind, and mix solid substances or masalas. It is usually made of iron but can also be made of marble stone, wood, bamboo, iron, steel, brass and basalt.

Question 15

Dori danda

Answer 15

Dori danda: It is a stoneware pot with a log of wood, used for pounding chutneys aor dry spices. The pestle could be either of wood or stone.