# Barka ghol or chigal

**Chef:** Spruha  
**Cookbook:** Dalit Kitchens of Marathwada  
**Potluck Date:** March 29, 2025  

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## Recipe

Barka ghol or chigal Another all-season vegetable, barka ghol and chigal are popular names for wild purslane or Portulaca quadrifida, a variant of hagarya ghol. ‘Barka’ means small. It has reddish-pink stems like the common purslane or hagarya ghol and very small leaves. The leaves are full of water. This vegetable is sour to taste. It is possible that it is called ghol because the stems of both varieties (hagarya ghol and barka ghol) are intertwined and a bit complex in appearance. It is a delicate vegetable that grows horizontally, parallel to the ground. It is full of mud, waste material and roots. Therefore, you have to clean and wash it well. Recipe 1 Ingredients Oil Onions, chopped Red chilli powder Salt Method Heat oil in a pan. Add the chopped onions. Add the barka ghol and mix well. If desired, add red chilli powder. Mix. Add salt to taste and mix again. Sprinkle very little water since the vegetable has a lot of water. Cover and let it cook over low heat. Recipe 2 Add masur dal (red lentils) along with the barka ghol in the above recipe. This dal changes the taste completely. Usually this is eaten with jowar bhakri. Recipe 3 Bhakri made with this vegetable tastes delicious when roasted and mildly charred on a tava. Children and adults used to eat barka ghol plain bhakris or along with kharda (coarsely ground green chillies and garlic). Kurdu Kurdu (Celosia argentea or silver cock’s comb) is another weed used as a leafy vegetable that grows in the fields as well as along the riverside. It is from the Amaranthaceae family, like tandulja and rajgira. At the beginning of the rainy season, the tiny plants grow very fast in a couple of months. Although mature kurdu is not useful for humans, goats love to eat their leaves. Tender kurdu’s fresh leaves were plucked and cooked like tarvat. Kurdu grows up to three to four feet high. It has silvery white combs of flowers. They turn reddish-pink when ripe. Kurdu is a nuisance for farmers. Paathari Paathari (country dandelion or Launaea procumbens) grows near dams, fields, anywhere. It spreads like a flower on the ground. It has only five or six leaves. In the middle of these leaves grow long stems with flowers. This vegetable is good to be eaten in its tender form. After growing, its leaves develop small thorns and it starts to taste rough and bitter. Goats also love this vegetable. Recipe Select a paathari with young leaves. Uproot the whole plant. Wash and wipe it well. Remove the roots and pick the tender young leaves. Eat them raw like a salad, just like raw spring onion is eaten. Rajgira (amaranth) It is one of the permitted edible items during religious fasts. The flowers appear in big colourful combs. Tandulja is in the same family, Amaranthacaea, but it has smaller combs. Amaranth seeds are sown and the plants cultivated. Tender leaves of amaranth would be cooked in the same way as tarvat. Bhopli (pumpkin vines) Tender leaves of pumpkin vines are used to prepare a dry curry. These vines grow rapidly during the rainy season. Leaves are plucked, washed, chopped and cooked following the recipes for tarvat or tandulja. Shevgyacha pala (moringa leaves) Tender leaves of moringa (drumstick tree) were used to prepare a curry. They would be cooked in boiling water. After cooking, the leaves would be squeezed and then cooked like tarvat or the first recipe of hagarya ghol. These leaves would also be dried and used in pithla. The moringa trees exude a gum. Pills were made out of this gum and given to people suffering from diarrhoea. Ambadi (roselle) The ambadi (Hibiscus sabdariffa or roselle) grows up to six feet tall and has very attractive flowers. It is also referred to as sorrel leaves because of their sour taste. When the plants were small, their tender leaves were used as a vegetable. Farmers used to sow ambadi as a crop, as ropes made from these plants were of good quality. When the plants were fully grown, they were handed over to the Mangs. They would trim the stems, tie the stalks in bundles and put them in a stream, river or large puddle for soaking. After eight days, the stalks were taken out of the water and their bark was peeled off. This bark, which was known as wakh, was washed and dried. Ropes were made from this dried wakh. Handling these soaked ambadi stems and wakh made the skin itchy. Stems looked shining white after removing the wakh. They were not thrown away but used after being cut into shorter pieces, called sankadya. It was used as a quick and cheap fuel, especially during the monsoon. One such stick could kindle many people’s kitchen fires. Hence the metaphor for a promiscuous woman: ‘A single, slender wire, can ignite many a fire.’ Ambadi is also called Shakambhari (a name for the goddess Parvati). It is believed that once upon a time, during a famine, the Goddess saved many lives by growing as an ambadi plant. Therefore, it has a special place in many pujas of the Goddess and is offered as a naivedya (holy offering). Ambadi curry Only the tender leaves are used for preparing the curry. The leaves are very sour. So they are boiled in plenty of water. They are squeezed and then cooked following a recipe such as the one for tarvat. Ambadi bhakri Boiled and squeezed ambadi leaves are mixed in jowar flour, with salt to taste. These bhakris, once roasted well, taste delicious and can be eaten without any accompaniment. Ambadi plants become thorny once fully grown. They have pretty, yellowish-white, large flowers. In a few days, the flowers form juicy fruits. These fruits are served as a side dish in a meal. Recipe Ingredients Ambadi fruit Oil Red chilli powder or yesur Salt Method Heat oil in pan. Add the ambadi fruit and stir. Add seasonings, sauté. Serve. When the fruits ripen, seeds are formed, which are shaped like the beads of a vajratik (traditional Maharashtrian necklace). Chutneys were made from these seeds just like those made with peanuts, flaxseeds or niger seeds. However, this ambadi chutney was eaten as an accompaniment and not used in cooked vegetables like peanuts or flaxseeds were. Javasachi bonde (flax fruits) The use of flaxseeds is common and well known. But its fruits are also eaten just like ambadi fruits, adding salt, oil, yesur and red chilli powder. Flax is harvested during the rabi season. When the plant is fully grown, it bears these fruits. This preparation tastes delicious. Waghate Waghate are the fruits of a thorny vine (Ceylon caper or Capparis zeylanica) that climbs taking the support of anything in its way. Waghate resemble small oval green limes, but on cutting open, they are like tiny gourds, with large seeds embedded in white inside. They are cooked as a vegetable. The leaves and fruits of this tough vine are also tough, but the tender young fruit can be cooked entirely. Older waghate are cooked after removing the harder seeds embedded within. In the month of Shravan, waghate are used in the worship of Lord Shiva. Recipe This preparation tastes great as a dry vegetable or with a thick gravy. Ingredients Gram dal Waghate, cut in pieces Chilli powder or yesur Salt Coriander leaves Oil Cumin or mustard seeds Method Take a pot with some water, add the gram dal and put it to cook. Keep just enough water to cook the dal so it is dry or nearly so. When the dal is boiling, add the waghate. When the dal is cooked, add the chilli powder or yesur, salt and coriander. Temper with cumin or mustard seeds, whichever you prefer. Serve. Tekale (mushrooms) Mushrooms that grow naturally in the forest during the monsoon are called tekale. An anthill is called a ‘tek’ in this region—as is any small elevation. Tek also means to touch or to take support. Tekale grow in fertile and crumbly soil. There is a poisonous variety of mushrooms known as ‘kutryachya chhatrya’ (dog’s umbrellas) which are not touched even by goats. These mushrooms look like fully open umbrellas and they are black from inside. Your hands get soiled with black spores if y

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