Dalichi aamTi- 7 (with raddish)

Flavor of radish combined with sambhar masala gives a unique taste to this curry. A tempering of curry leaves enhances it further.


Ingredients
To be cooked in pressure cooker with 1cup water
1/2 cup toor dal
1/2 cup chopped onion
3-4 radish pieces ( approx. 2 inch pieces)
2 green chilies (slit)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder

To be mixed in a curry
1/4 tsp pepper powder
1/2 tsp sambhar powder
salt and jaggery to taste


To be ground coarsely
1/4 cup grated coconut
1 tsp tamarind pulp

Tempering
1-2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp asafoetida
3-4 curry leaves



Garnishing
1/2 cup chopped coriander

Method

• Pressure cook dal with onion and radish.
• Grind  coconut and tamarind.
• Mix cooked dal  with sambhar masala, pepper powder, salt, jaggery and bring it to boil. ( add water if required)
• Add ground masala.
• Heat oil in an iron ladle. Add tempering ingredients. Dip the ladle in dal mixture.
• Garnish with chopped coriander.
• Serve with rice.

Cabbage cakes

कोबीच्या वड्या

There are many ways to cook this spicy and चटपटा dish. My MIL's sis uses soaked and ground chanadal instead of chickpea flour along with other regular ingredients. It really makes them crispy and tasty too.
If time is a constraint then there is no alternative but to use chickpea flour. Last Sunday my friend Madhuri Sawant brought it in our Nursery and Gardening class and everyone enjoyed it. She said her homemade Malwani masala was the key ingredient. She shared the recipe with me. I had a small piece of cabbage in my fridge so I tried it the very next day. Here how I did it.....

Ingredients
1 cup shredded cabbage
2-3 tsp ginger-garlic-chili  paste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Malwani masala ( Madhuri has her homemade one, I used ready-made)
salt to taste
1/2-3/4 cup besan/ chickpea flour
1tbl sp rice flour
water to make a thick batter

oil for shallow frying

Method

• Wash and shred the cabbage.
• Add all masala powders and pastes.
• Add besan and rice flour.
• Mix in the water slowly and stir with a spoon to make a thick batter.
• Transfer the contents in a greased pan and pressure cook for 10-15 minutes in a pressure cooker without weight(whistle). (Put some extra water inside the cooker.)
• Let the contents cool completely before cutting the squares of desired size.
• Shallow fry on medium flame from both sides.
• Serve with tomato ketchup or green chutney.

Egg plant-Potato veggie

A vangi-batata bhajee

Ingredients

2-3 vangi (काटेरी)
2 potatoes
Cut both in pieces of identical sizes
Salt and jaggery to taste

To be roasted in a tsp of oil
2 tsp coriander seeds
3-4 peppercorns
2 dry red chilies
1/2 tsp turmeric powder

To be  ground finely
roasted masala with 2 tbl sp of freshly grated coconut

Tempering
1tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp asafoetida
3-4 curry leaves


Method

• Heat oil in a kadhai and add tempering ingredients.
• Add vegetable pieces. Cover with water in the lid. Let it cook till potato is half cooked.
• Meantime roast the ingredients and grind them with coconut.
• Add the ground masala in a half cooked vegetable. Add little water if required to adjust the consistency.
• When done add jaggery and little salt if needed.
• Serve with chapati.

Porridge of puffed lotus seeds

मखान्याची खीर

Puffed lotus seeds also known as Gorgon nuts are called Makhana /मखाना in India.Here are the details....
Health Benefits of Makhana or Gorgon Nut

Makhana is used as a treatment for arthritis and rheumatic pains.
Like chrysanthemums, there are no side effects, nor drug interactions, to worry about when eating Gorgon Nut.
Makhana, has been widely used in traditional oriental medicine to cure a variety of diseases including kidney problems, chronic diarrhea, excessive leucorrhea and hypofunction of the spleen.
Gorgon Nut has been widely used in traditional oriental medicine to treat a variety of illness.
Nutrition of Makhana or Gorgon Nut
The popped seeds of Makhana or Gorgon Nut, roasted and eaten as well as used in preparation of various kind of delicious sweets and recipes. It contains 9.7% easily digestible protein, 76% carbohydrate, 12.8% moisture, 0.1% fat, 0.5% total minerals,0.9% phosphorus & 1.4%mg iron/100gm. It also contains useful medicinal properties.


Usually makhana is rarely used in a Maharashtrian kitchen as far as I know. It is used in the kitchen of northern side of India. Once I came across a packet of makhana while doing grocery and googled and got  a You Tube video from Sanjeev Kapoor

Mango dip

आम्ब्याचे सासव
Various types of mangoes are introduced in the market as the month of April begins. Different varieties taste different. Many recipes include mango as its ingredient. This is one of them....
Ingredients
2 small any juicy mangoes (like  Payri or RaiwaL)
chili powder
salt and jaggery to taste

Tempering
1 tsp oil ( coconut oil if you like)
1 tsp mustard seeds

To be ground in paste
tempering when cooled
2 tsp freshly grated coconut

Method

• Wash and soften the mangoes with fingers.
• Take of the tip and and wash off the latex (चिक )if any. Squeeze out  the mango juice in a pan.
• Mash the lumps if any, to make it smooth.
• Add red chili powder, salt and jaggery to taste.
• Heat oil in an iron ladle and add mustard seeds. Let them splutter. Turn the gas off and cool it completely.
•  Grind it with grated coconut.
• Mix the paste with mango mixture. Mix it well.
• This is served with chapati or rice or as an accompaniment.

DaLichi aamTi-6

This is another version of DaLichi aamTi... a tasty one !!

Ingredients
1/2 cup toor dal
1 tbl sp tamarind paste
salt and jaggery to taste
1/2 tsp coriander-cumin seeds powder
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp grated coconut

Tempering
1 -2 tsp oil ( tastes best with coconut oil)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp asafoetida
5-6 curry leaves
2 dry red chilies

Method

• Wash and cook dal in pressure cooker with double the quantity of water.
• Bring it to boil with all the ingredients.
• Heat oil in an iron ladle and add tempering ingredients.
• Pour the contents of the ladle into the curry. Turn off the gas. Cover with lid for 2 minutes.
• Serve with rice and sajook toop over it.

Onion veggie

कांद्याची भाजी

My younger daughter doesn't like to spend more time in kitchen if I ask her to something there. So she is always ready to make this veggie. You will come to know the reason once you read the 'Method ' below.

Ingredients
2 cups potatoes( wash and cut with skin like finger chips or french fries)
2 cups onions ( slice thinly)
salt to taste

Tempering
2-3 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp asafoetida
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp coriander seeds powder
1/2 tsp cumin seeds powder

Method

• Heat oil in a kadhai. Add tempering ingredients. Add onions,potatoes with salt altogether. Stir well.
• Cover with water on the lid. Cook on medium flame till the potatoes are cooked. ( it takes 8-10 minutes)
• And done!!

It finishes as fast as it is done so could not capture the photo  :(

Chicken kalami kabab

YUMMY!!!!

Ingredients
6-8 chicken pieces(preferably boneless)
2 tbl sp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp vinegar
salt to taste

1 tbl sp cream
1 egg white
1 tbl sp curd (water removed completely)
1 tsp ( 2-3 cashews soaked in 1/4 cup water)kaju/magaj seed paste
1 tsp tandoori masala

Method

• Cut pieces of skewable size pieces of chicken. Wash the pieces.
• Apply salt,vinegar and ginger- garlic paste and  keep aside.
• Whisk curd,egg white,cream and cashew paste.
• Remove excess water from chicken pieces by squeezing it in palms.
• Apply tandoori masala and soak the pieces in the whisked marinade.
• Marinate for at least an hour.
• Skew the pieces on the skewer and roast on tandoor or on gas.
• Apply some oil and lemon juice while roasting.
• Serve as a starter with onion rings.

Paneer Paratha

Usually recipes, tricks n tips,trends are passed on from Mothers to Daughters or from older to younger generation. But  this time it was other way round, my daughter suggested me this recipe which was her innovation. As she has to do her grocery and  cook for herself too while doing her job, she often goes for a short-cut ( like paratha- a 2 in 1 recipe)to save her time and have ghar ka khana.. I remember she couldn't even do chapati/roti when she was in college but now she manages to do puranpoli !!! She's come a long way. I am proud of you my child!!!


Ingredients
100 gms paneer
1 tbl sp kasoori methi
2 green chilies finely chopped
2 tsp green chutney( coriander leaves, mint leaves, ginger)
salt to taste
1 tbl sp honey

Knead a dough with 1 cup wheat flour, a pinch of salt, 1 tsp oil (optional)

Method

• Defrost the frozen paneer halfway so it can be easily grated with a grater.
• Mix all the other ingredients and make lemon sized flat balls out of it.
• Knead the dough and make balls out of it each ball should be of half the size  of the paneer ball.
• Take two small balls  and roll two small puris out of it. Place a flattened paneer ball over one puri and keep another puri over it. Seal the border by pressing firmly or by folding the edges.
• Roll a paratha of medium thickness by using rice flour (for dredging) if required.
• Roast from both sides on a non-stick pan or griddle using few drops of clarified butter or ghee.
• Eat with curd or white butter.

DaLichi aamTi- 5

Toor DaL is an inevitable ingredient of Indian cuisine. DaL-Bhat (dal-Rice) is a popular combination in many parts of India. From plain वरण , गोड वरण, संबार , डाल तड़का, डाल माखनी there are so many to mention. Here's one more simple recipe of DaLichi aamTi

Ingredients
1/2 cup toor dal 
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2-3 kokum pieces

2-3 tirphaLe (तिरफळ  )crushed

salt and jaggery to taste


To be ground coarsely
 1 tbl sp. freshly grated coconut
2 dry red chilies

Garnishing
few drops of coconut oil (optional)


Method

• Wash and cook dal in pressure cooker with double the quantity of water.
• Transfer the contents in a pan.
• Ground coconut and chili coarsely and mix it with cooked dal. Bring it to boil after adding little water in it.
• Crush some tirphale(तिरफळ ), turmeric powder and kokum. Add water to adjust the consistency and continue boiling for 2-3 minutes.
• Add salt and jaggery to taste and turn off the gas.
• Top with few drops of coconut oil if you like.
• Serve hot with rice and sajook toop.

sago fries

साबुदाण्याच्या कुरडव्या
Recently I soaked sago for khichdi but while making khichdi,  I kept aside the excess sago. I then felt why not to try sabudana kurdaee out of it. With the word kurdaee, I just went down the memory lane.

 My Mom used to this in the month of  April/May every year. She used to cook the batter and hand it over to me and  my friends. We would spread the huge plastic sheet over the chatai(चटई) on the terrace and drop the spoonful of small papad (कुरडई) over it. Once it got dried, the papads would automatically fall of the plastic sheet. As they were dried under the hot Sun, could be stored for a year and used for upwas occasionally.

Now we get all the stuff ready made.I wonder how my Mom ( working 10-5, Mon-Sat) would spare time to do पापड़ ,बटाटा कीस, चुंदा,साबुदाण्याच्या कुरडव्या and all that at home.
Many of my Mom's friends and my friends used to help each other for this summer venture. It used to be a group activity and it was really a fun.

Ingredients
1 cup soaked sago
2-3 cups of water
1 tsp cumin seeds
salt to taste

Method

• Boil the water and soaked sabudana /sago .
• Add cumin seeds.
• It should become transparent and the mixture should become semi solid ( you can check the consistency by pouring a spoonful on a plate. It should not flow of its own and can be spread with a spoon.)
• Add salt to taste and turn off the gas.
• You can either spread it on the thick plastic sheet or on a stainless steel plate.
• Keep the sheet in a sunny place.Spread the mixture with a spoon in small circles of diameter 2-3 cm.
• Let it get dried for 2-3 days ( daily 4-5 hrs of Sun)
• Once dry, store it in an airtight container. Fry in oil as and when required.( I made it fresh and my daughter liked it so much that storing was out of question!!! ....may be because deep frying is a rare activity in my kitchen)

Home-made rajgira chikki

राजगिर्याची चिक्की
Though we  get this chikki in shops, I prefer it homemade. It's simple.

Ingredients
1 cup jaggery
5 cups puffed rajgira
handful of  peants (roasted and crushed into pieces) and or roasted chana

Method

• Melt jaggery in a pan to make a thick syrup (पाक )
  Turn off the gas and mix in the rajgira, roasted peanuts. Mix well.
• Transfer the contents onto 2-3 greased stainless steel plate (थाळी ) and spread it by patting with greased wooden spatula or katori(वाटी )
• Mark in squares with  a knife when warm.
• Cut into pieces when cooled.

puffed rice snack

चटपटा भडंग

कुरमुरे /चुरमुरे  or puffed rice if stored in this way, become handy for making भेळ or sukha bhel whenever you feel like eating something spicy. By adding finely chopped onion, coriander leaves and with some raw mango, topped with tikha shev(तिखट शेव...दादरच्या पणशिकरची   )....it's yummy!!!

Ingredients
1 pkt puffed rice
roasted peanuts

roasted chana(डाळ )

Tempering
oil
mustard seeds
asafoetida
finely chopped green chilies as per taste
Curry leaves
turmeric powder
lemon juice
salt and sugar to taste

Method

• Roast the peanuts lightly.
• Clean the puffed rice if necessary for any small stone or burnt puffed rice.
• Heat oil in a big vessel. Add tempering ingredients one by one.
• Add roasted peanuts  and fry well. Add roasted dal.
• Add salt and sugar to taste.
• Turn of the gas and add puffed rice. Stir well so that all the ingredients with oil get mixed well.
• Let it cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Note
You can replace lemon juice with kokum pieces( to be added in tempering and fried well)

Mysore masala dosa

Once the Dosa batter is ready you can make varieties. Today I made Mysore sada and mysore masala dosa .
It doesn't require separate chutney as it is already spread inside. Tastes great with ghee/sajook toop.

Potato veggie or dosa  bhajee preparation is here.

Chutney
freshly grated coconut
kashmiri red chily (soaked in warm water for 10-15 min.)
red chili powder
garlic cloves
roasted chana
tamarind or lemon juice
salt to taste

Grind all to a fine paste in a grinder with very little water.

Method

• Spread a ladle of dosa batter on a hot non-stick griddle or beedacha tawa(बिडाचा तवा ) on medium flame.
• Put some ghee   from the edges of the dosa. Cover with lid for half a minute.
• Spread chutney in thin layer to cover the dosa.
• Spread bhajee over it.
• Fold  the dosa from sides.
• Serve with little ghee over it.

Pineapple-Jackfruit veggie

अनसा-फणसाची भाजी
This sweet n sour veggie is a traditional recipe predominantly made in the coastal region of Maharashtra. Konkan being the leading  producer in mangoes, jackfruits and coconuts, this dish is 'a must' once mangoes appear in the market.


Ingredients
2  small juicy mangoes ( payri or raywal )
1 cup ripe jackfruit pieces
1 cup ripe pineapple pieces
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chili powder
salt and jaggery to taste

To be ground coarsely
freshly grated coconut
4-5 peppercorns

Tempering
1-2 tsp oil ( preferably coconut which is used in the traditional recipe )
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp asafoetida


Method

• Wash and soften the mangoes. Take out the pulp and juice by peeling the skin off. Mash the lumps if any and keep aside.
• Heat oil in a pan. Add the tempering ingredients.
• Add pineapple and jackfruit pieces with little water.Cook with the pan covered.
• Grind the coarse paste of coconut. Mix it with the vegetable. Add mango juice with pulp.
• Add turmeric powder, chili powder. Add salt and jaggery to taste.
• Bring it to boil.

Crunchy salad

This is very tasty and healthy salad. Many variations are possible in selecting the vegetables. I used red capsicum, yellow capsicum, sweet corn and iceberg lettuce. You can add boiled potato cubes, mushrooms, tomatoes, boiled green peas. Sky is the limit!!!
For dressing I used mayonnaise, curd, mint leaves,oregano, pepper powder, salt and sugar .

DaLichi aamTi- 4

This is another variety of DaLichi aamti...without jaggery.




Ingredients
1/2 cup toor daL
1/4 cup chopped tomato
2-3 sprigs of coriander leaves(chopped)
2 tsp freshly grated coconut
salt to taste


Tempering
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2-3 garlic cloves(crushed with skin)
3-4 curry leaves
2 green chilies(chopped)


Method

• Wash and cook toor dal with double the quantity of water in a pressure cooker.
• Transfer the contents into a pan and add a cup of water and bring it to boil on low-medium flame.
• Add chopped tomato, chopped coriander leaves, grated coconut and salt to taste.
• Heat oil in an iron ladle/paLi, add tempering ingredients one by one. Make the garlic cloves light brown and mix the contents in the curry/aamti. Cover  with lid.
• Serve hot with rice.

Raw mango juice

कैरीचे पन्हे

I pressure cooked two medium size raw mangoes without water in a pressure cooker. When cooled, transferred the pulp in a mixer with organic jaggery (according to the sourness of the raw mango), salt to taste and a cardamom. You can also add saffron. The color turns different if you use sugar or yellow jaggery.
Add ice cold water to dilute and serve chilled with AambaDaL.

AambaDaL

आंबाडाळ- The month of Chaitra (The first month of marathi new year) starts and this dish is savored in almost every Maharashtrian's home. The auspicious beginning of gudhipadava brings in a lot of changes in the  atmosphere; the major one being arrival of raw mango. It is the best solution to beat the heat. A lot of dishes prepared this season include Methamba, Panhe, udadamethi and my favorite Ambadal

Ingredients
1 cup chanadal/Bengal gram/yellow split peas
2 green chilies
salt and sugar to taste
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves

1 green mango/raw mango/कैरी
2 tsp freshly grated coconut(optional)

Tempering
1 tbl sp oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp asafoetida

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

Method

• Wash and soak chana dal in 2-1/2  cups of water for 3-4 hours.
• Wash and peel off the skin of raw mango. Grate it on a grater.
• Grind coarsely the soaked dal with green chili, salt and sugar.( do not drain the dal completely before grinding)
• Transfer the ground dal in a bowl. Mix in grated raw mango, chopped coriander leaves.
• Heal oil in an iron ladle or लोखंडी पळी and add mustard seeds. As the seeds splutter,add asafoetida and turmeric powder. Turn off the gas. Let the oil cool completely.
• Mix the cooled tempering mixture with grated dal mixture.
• Garnish with freshly grated coconut if you like.
• Serve with raw mango juice or पन्हे
  

cashew nut sweet

ओल्या काजूची गोड़ उसळ

It's a variety of Konkan. A combination of freshly grated  coconut, tender cashew nuts or ओले काजू (peel the skin) and jaggery ( as per taste). All are combined on a medium heat till all the ingredients mix well.

Finger millet vermicelli

नाचणीच्या पिठाच्या शिरवळया

This is the similar one with rice flour as नारळच्या रसातल्या  शेवया or vermicelli in  coconut milk
Here I have replaced rice flour with finger millet flour/ragi or नाचणी. It really tastes great.

I boiled 2 cups of water with 1/2 tsp of salt and a tsp of oil in it. Added 2 cups of nachni flour in it. Mixed well and covered and cooked on low flame for a minute. Transferred in a plate and kneaded it and made

muthiye or pressed the cooked flour in the fist like this








Boiled these muthiye in water till they float over it.

Pressed it through chakali saacha/press with an disc attachment of  fine hole

Extracted the coconut milk with freshly grated coconut with jaggery and cardamom powder in it.

The combination tastes awesome !!! Try it.