Rushichi Bhaji / Rishi Panchami Sabzi

14 Sep Rushichi Bhaji / Rishi Panchami Sabzi

Today is the second day of Ganesh Chaturthi. Maharashtrians celebrate the second day of Vinayaka Chaturthi as Rishi Panchami. They prepare a special dish called Rushichi Bhaji on this day. As part of Ganesh festival, many recipes and videos on how to make Modaks of different types are floating around the Internet. But Rushichi Bhaji is a unique and Satwik (no onion and no garlic), authentic Maharashtrian recipe that is not explored by many.

What is special about Rishi Panchami?

On this day, everyone remembers and worship all seven sages Kashyapa, Bharadwaj, Vashishta, Gautam, Jamadagni, Atri and Viswamintra (Sapta Rishis) along with Vasishta’s wife Arundati. The uniqueness of this dish is that this uses only vegetables that grow without the use of bullock / ox to plough the fields. In other words, it uses only vegetables which grow in the backyard or those that grow wild. These are vegetables that do not have strong smells. It also does not use any spices other than green chillies. This is as mark of respect & gratitude to those Rishis who lived in jungles with access to only fruits, vegetables and tubers and no access to any spices to perk up their food.

This Rushichi Bhaji  is a very simple recipe that is extremely healthy, nutritious & low calorie. Despite the fact that it uses no spices, the dish turns out very tasty. No hard and fast rules about using any particular vegetable. Other than Bitter gourd, any other vegetable that grows in the backyard can be used. One can use any number of such vegetables. Traditionally our ancestors cooked this in earthen pots. They cooked each veggie separately as the cooking time differs for each vegetable. Such display of dedication and patience. But the present-day scenario does not allow such luxuries. We are free to cook everything together in a pan or pressure cooker. In fact, preparation and cutting vegetables take more time than actual cooking.

I have used the following vegetables:

• 1 cup each:
• Colacasia leaves shredded
• Red Amaranth leaves shredded
• 1 Corn on the cob cut into big bits OR ½ cup shredded corn
• _______________
• ½ cup each:
• raw ground nuts soaked previous night
• stems of colacasia leaves
• stems of red amaranth
• red pumpkin cubed into small pieces
• ridge gourd cut into small cubes
• ______________
• 1/3 cup each:
• Ladies finger cut into medium size pieces
• yam peeled and cut into small cubes
• sweet potato peeled and cut into small cubes
• cucumber cubed into small pieces
• Lauki (Bottle gourd) cubed into small pieces
• French beans cut into medium sized pieces
• Cluster beans cut into medium sized pieces
• ____________-
• 4 green chillies cut into long pieces
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 2 tablespoon tamarind paste OR 1 goose berry sized tamarind soaked in ¼ cup water and pulp extracted
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp oil
• Water as required.

Directions:

• Heat oil in a pressure cooker / pressure pan.
• Add the green chillies and sauté.
• Then add the colacasia leaves and amaranth leaves and sauté for few minutes.
• Finally add all the other vegetables, coconut, salt and tamarind water.
• Pour ¼ cup water.
• Close the cooker and cook for just 1 whistle.
• Let pressure settle. Mix everything.

Serve this Rushichi bhaji with Bhakri.

You can find more Maharashtrian Recipes here