Makhana is the popped seed of the prickly water lily, and it comes out of Mithila’s ponds. There is a Maithili line for the region — pag-pag pokhari, maachh, makhan: at every step, a pond, fish, and makhana — and it is not a boast so much as a description of the landscape, which is water as much as land. The seeds are dived for by hand from pond beds, dried, then popped over sand heat, a skill held by particular families and almost impossible to mechanise well. Mithila Makhana carries a GI tag. It is eaten every way the region can think of, but the everyday one is this: dry-roasted in ghee until it crackles, thrown with salt and chilli and a little chaat masala, and kept in a tin for whenever someone wants something to eat with tea. It also has a formal role — makhana goes to Kojagara, the festival Maithil households hold for a couple in the first year of their marriage.
INGREDIENTS
- 120 g makhana (fox nuts)
- 2 tbsp ghee
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp red chilli powder
- ½ tsp roasted cumin powder
- ½ tsp chaat masala
- ¼ tsp black salt (kala namak)
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp asafoetida
METHOD
- Heat a wide heavy pan over low heat with no fat in it and dry-roast the makhana for 8 minutes, shaking often.
- They are ready when one snaps cleanly between your teeth with no give at all in the centre. If it is at all chewy, keep going.
- Push them to one side, add the ghee, and let it melt.
- Turn the makhana through the ghee for two minutes so every one is coated.
- Take the pan off the heat.
- Now add the turmeric, chilli powder, roasted cumin, chaat masala, black salt, salt and asafoetida, and toss hard. Off the heat, or the spices burn on contact.
- Spread out on a tray and cool completely before storing — any warmth trapped in a tin turns them soft.
- Keep in an airtight tin and eat within a week.
