Now a days we come across many combos. We like to pair certain dishes .When we order food from hotels, they also offer many combos. But the oldest combo I know is ‘Kalya Watanyachi Usal ‘and ‘Shira’ distributed as Prasad after Satyanarayan Pooja.This was a regular practice in Sindhudurg District. After Pooja everybody got one ‘dron’ (leaf cup) full of shira and one ‘dron’ of watanyachi usal.One sweet and other spicy, both complimented each other. Shira was silky on the palate, redolent with ghee, sugar, cardamom and hint of ‘Sonyali’ (velchi) bananas. To cut the sweetness you take a spoonful of Usal. The Usal flavours just burst in your mouth and you are ready for next morsel of Shira. It was a celebration of flavours.
As Prasad for Satyanarayan Pooja, Shira has still continued but gradually the watanyachi usal disappeared. It also used to be cooked for the bhajani mandal (group, singing devotional songs).It was served with hot steaming cups of tea. This trend is also changing and this Kalya watanyachi suki usal may exit silently. Already at some places it is replaced by chawalichi (cow peas) usal. It appears that this usal also making way for other snacks.
As the kalya watanyachi usal was served for pooja, onion and garlic were not added to it.Then also it was tasty. It was slow cooked for almost a whole day. When kala watana was simmering on the ‘choolha’ the other ingredients were added at different stages. The inherent taste of legume bloomed only with ginger, green chili, coconut and malwani masala.