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Arustic breakfast dish made from green garlic and bajray ki roti [pearl millet flatbread], topped with an eggplant raita, hara lehsun is named after its starring ingredient. If you’ve never had green garlic, you’re missing out; it’s better than regular garlic and makes any dish sing with its addition. That hara lehsun is only available in the winters only adds to the dish’s allure.
It seems every generation in my family has fond memories associated with hara lehsun: my mum’s favourite thing to do after a sleepover at her dadi’s [paternal grandmother] was to wake up at the crack of dawn to help her grandma make the beloved dish with her cousins. My siblings and I, too, have continued this tradition — spending winter mornings on the odd weekends peeling and chopping green garlic. The communal way of making hara lehsun is, after all, part of its appeal — it’s a dish that literally and figuratively brings the family together.
Hara Lehsun
This is the ideal winter dish — the hot bajra with the green garlic warms you up, while the eggplant raita adds a subtle, spicy kick and balances out the mildly dry lehsun. While traditionally eaten for breakfast, hara lehsun makes for a satisfying lunch or dinner, too. Although light on the tummy, this Memoni dish will keep you filled up till the end of the day.
While this dish is laborious to make — a stack of rotis have to be cooked and mounds of green garlic have to be very finely sliced — it is definitely worth the effort.
This rustic Memoni dish made from green garlic and bajra is the epitome of nostalgic comfort
Ingredients (serves 6 – 8 people)
For the roti
4 cups bajray ka atta (pearl millet flour)
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ cup oil
1 cup hot water or as needed
For the hara lehsun
½ kg hara lehsun (green garlic), peeled and very finely chopped
½-1 cup ghee (can be substituted with cooking oil)
½ kg eggplant (around 2 medium eggplants)
2 cups yoghurt
To-taste salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon red chili powder
Method
Make the roti. Use a large flat bowl to make the dough. Mix the salt and flour. Add the oil. Then pour the hot water a little at a time while rubbing the ingredients together, until a crumbled texture forms. Continue adding water as needed and mixing until a dough forms. Knead the dough for 10 to 15 minutes. Stretch out the dough with the heel of your palm and fold over. Repeat this step a few times. Knead the dough well and then shape into a ball.
Break off a palm-sized piece of dough. Sprinkle wheat flour on a flat surface or a rolling board as well as on the dough ball. Flatten the dough with your hand and then stretch out evenly in all directions with a rolling pin to form a circular shape.
Heat a tawa (griddle). Gently place your fingers below the raw roti and flip on to your other palm. Then flip on to the hot griddle. Cook on one side for a half a minute or until bubbles form on the surface. Flip the roti to the other side. Keep on flipping and cooking until both sides are brown. Brush with ghee and set aside. Repeat this step until the dough is finished and all the rotis are made. While the rotis are still hot, crumble them with your hand in a bowl and set aside (please note that they will not crumble properly once cold).
Peel and chop the hara lehsun: green garlic is similar to green onions. Pull down an outer leaf to the bottom of the bulb to remove the outer skin, as you would with an onion. Chop the bulb and the green leaves very finely and set aside in a bowl. Heat some oil or ghee in a pot. Add the crumbled lehsun, followed by the bajra and the to-taste salt, and stir well.
Make the raita. Roast eggplants on a grill. Peel off the skin and mash the eggplant in a bowl. Add the yoghurt, salt, pepper and red chili powder, and any other seasoning or herbs you like. Mix all the ingredients well.
Serve the raita and hara lehsun (the green garlic and bajra mixture) separately. In a plate, generously spoon out the hara lehsun and pour the eggplant raita over it. Mix it well and dig in. Bon Appétit!
Published in Dawn, EOS, January 19th, 2025
