ALoo wadi (colocasia tikkis)

Recipes which take extra efforts are made occasionally ....say PuraNpoLi,  BiryaNi, Basundi or seasonally like Undhiyu, kandamooL or Rishipanchmichi bhaji, haLdichya panatalya patoLya etc.
ALoowadi  is not a frequently made item as it requires more time for preparation but no time to finish it. ( You get ready to fry उंडे or cooked loaf in many stores in Mumbai nowadays).

Today I harvested 5-6 leaves of colocasia or अळू in my kitchen garden and prepared aloowadi at home.

    Colocasia esculenta, a botanical name of अळू is a tropical plant grown or cultivated in wet soil. There are two types तेर अळू (with green stalk/stem)आणि वडीचे अळू (with the black stalk/stem)The rhizomes are called अळवाच्या मुन्डल्या ,arbi or arvi and are edible.
The plant cell contains needle shaped calcium oxalate due to which it itches when cooked without  tamarind or any sour ingredient. ( the calcium oxalate raphides dissolve in tartaric acid present in tamarind) Remember this we studied this in school.... so don't forget to use tamarind.

I used chickpea flour with coriander-cumin seeds powder, tamarind paste and jaggery with other regular ingredients.
You can also make a combination of onion-green chilli-garlic to make another tasty variety.

Make a thick paste of:
1 cup chickpea flour
2 tsp coriander seeds powder
2 tsp cumin seeds powder
2 tsp red chili powder or as per taste
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbl sp tamarind- jaggery paste ( soak tamarind in warm water for 10-15 minutes and then mix well and strain to add jaggery.)
salt to taste
water as required.

Method
Wash and wipe the leaves. Cut the stems.( the leaves used for making aloowadi are dark green in colour and slightly thicker than that are used for preparing bhaaji. The colour of the stem is black for the aloowadi leaves.) Take the biggest leaf and keep dark green side down with broad end towards you. Take the help of roller pin to suppress the veins of the leaf. Apply some tamarind water over it. Spread the paste evenly to make a thin layer all over the leaf. Put another leaf which is slightly smaller than the first one,with darker side down but now with broader end away from you. Press it gently with your palm and repeat the procedure.
You can arrange 6-7 leaves this way in the descending order of their size.
When finished with the leaves, fold both the sides (approx.1/4th) and make a tight roll of the stack starting from the end nearer to you. Apply paste on the sides and to the taper end so that it sticks firmly. You can use a string so the leaves will not unfold.
Cook the roll in a pressure cooker without pressure for 15-20 minutes and cut the slices after cooling it. Shallow fry or deep fry as per your requirement. You can arrange cooked wadis in plate and add tempering of little oil with mustard seeds and asafoetida .

For those who like the taste of garlic and don't use jaggery can make the paste this way...
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2-3 garlic cloves finely chopped
3-4 green chillies
avoid using jaggery, other ingredients and method remain the same.

Paneer hariyali

This is a starter. Tastes yummy. Very easy and fast to prepare.

Ingredients
200 gms Paneer
2 tbl sp besan or chickpea flour
1tsp oil

Grind a smooth paste of
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves
1-2 green chilies
3-4 garlic cloves
1/2" ginger piece
1 tsp fennel (badishep)seeds
2 tbl sp lemon juice
salt to taste

Method

• Cut paneer into 1X1" pieces with 3/4" in thickness.
• Slit the pieces almost till end. ( Do not cut completely)
• Make two parts of the paste.
• With one part of the paste, stuff little green paste in the slits of each piece of paneer.
• Mix besan in the second part of the green paste .Add little oil in it.
• Apply this to the paneer pieces from outside.
• Grill the pieces for 5 minutes or you can fry from both sides on the non-stick pan
• Serve hot with green salad.
• I served this with masale bhat.

Crunchy veg dip

Assorted raw fresh vegetables such as colored bell peppers, baby corns, cucumbers, radishes can be cut fresh lengthwise and used with this dip. A perfect healthy dish for the light dinner.

For the dip
1 cup hung curd
1/4 cup fresh cream
1/2 tsp pepper powder
4-5 mint leaves (torn with hands)
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp roasted and crushed cumin seeds
2 tsp crushed walnuts
2 tbl sp honey
salt to taste

Blend all the ingredients together in a thick dip.
Wash and cut the vegetables lengthwise and eat fresh.

Cruchy cabbage salad

This crunchy salad tastes best if eaten fresh. It has shredded cabbage, grated carrot and soaked udid dal ( Black gram dal  which makes it rich in protein. High in fiber, this is perfect side for the dinner with some rice-n-curry.



Ingredients
Cabbage (shredded)
Carrot (grated)
Onion (sliced)
Udid dal ( soaked in water for an hour)

Seasoning
green chilies (Slit)
pepper powder
fresh lemon juice
Salt and sugar to taste

Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves

Method
Wash the vegetables and cut them accordingly.
Mix all the other ingredients well.
Garnish and eat fresh.

Wheat bread open sandwich

My daughter surprised us with this for the Sunday evening snack!!!
Whole wheat bread with mixed vegetables ( cut and steamed flavored in olive oil with finely chopped garlic, pepper powder,oregano, chili flakes and salt) topped with mozzarella cheese. She used french beans, tomatoes,baby corns, capsicums and spring onions. Served with tomato ketchup.

Lemon rice

I had cooked excess rice in the morning which turned into tangy lemon rice for the evening meal with a cup of tea flavored with ginger and lemon grass.


Ingredients
1 cup cooked rice
salt and sugar to taste

Tempering
2-3 tsp oil
1 tsp udid dal
1 tsp chana dal
2 tsp peanuts
1 tsp cashew nuts
2 dry red chilies
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp asafoetida
1 tsp turmeric powder
3-4 curry leaves

Juice of 1 lemon(approx.2-3 tbl sp.)


Method

• Heat oil in a kadhai. Add the tempering ingredients one by one in sequence. At the end squeeze in the lemon juice and immediately add cooked rice and mix well.
• Add salt and sugar to taste.
• Serve hot.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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 .

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
  

Raw tomato chaTNi

Ingredients
1 raw/green tomato
1/4 cup freshly grated coconut
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves
1 green chili
2 garlic cloves
salt and sugar to taste

Method

• Grind all the ingredients together with little water (if required) to a fine paste.
• Tempering of mustard seeds and asafoetida will enhance the taste.
• Raw tomato is used as a souring agent gives a different taste to the chutney.
• Serve with steamed idli or hot Dosa.

Raw mango pickle

कैरीचे लोणचे

This is a quick n fast pickle. Quick because it is easy to make and it has to be consumed fast because it cannot be stored for long.
1 raw mango (washed and chopped in small pieces)

1/2 cup mustard seeds split(मोहरीची डाळ )
2 tbl sp red chili powder( or as per taste)
1 tbl sp salt

Tempering

1/2 cup oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp turmeric powder

To be roasted in a tsp of oil
1/2 tsp fenugreek  seeds
1/2 tsp asafoetida

Method
Roast fenugreek seeds and asafoetida in a tsp of oil till golden brown. Grind it and keep aside.
In the same kadhai add remaining oil and add tempering  ingredients. Let it cool completely.
Mix half of the cooled oil and ground powder of fenugreek and asafoetida with the chopped raw mango pieces.
To the remaining cooled oil, add red chili powder, split mustard seeds and salt.
Apply this paste to the pieces.
Mix well and store in a  glass container or bowl.

Cucumbar salad

काकडीची कोशिंबीर (दही घालून)
Eating raw cucumber is good to make your inner system cool.as it's high in its water content. It is also rich in potassium and vitamin C. Salads made without peeling the skin provide the folic acid.

Ingredients
2 cucumbers
1 tsp sajook toop/clarified butter
1/2 cup curd
roasted and crushed peanuts(optional)
salt and sugar to taste

Tempering (optional)
1 tsp ghee
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp asafoetida

To be ground in paste(optional)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 green chili
salt

Garnishing
chopped coriander leaves

Method

• Wash and chop the cucumber. (Taste the cucumber for bitterness before chopping)
• Apply ghee all over the chopped cucumber. ( applying ghee prevents cucumber from becoming watery)
• Grind mustard seeds,green chili and salt together in a fine paste and mix in the salad.( If you don't like the taste of mustard seeds, avoid this step)
• Add curd and sugar to taste. Mix the crushed peanuts if you like.
• Heat toop/clarified butter in an iron ladle or paLi and add tempering ingredients. Pour this on the salad.
• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

karela fry

Ingredients
2 karela/bitter gourd
 1tbl sp salt
1 tbl sp chili powder as per taste
approx. 1-1&1/2  tbl sp rice  flour
oil for frying

Method

• Wash the bitter gourd and cut thin slices out of it.
• Sprinkle some salt over it and keep aside for 10 minutes.
• Drain the salty water completely by pressing the slices between the palms.
• Transfer the contents in a dry plate.
• Sprinkle red chili powder and rice flour over it to get a thin coat on the slices.
• Deep fry till golden brown in hot oil on medium flame.
• Serve with waran-bhat or dahi-butti

Raw mango sweet pickle/Jam

मेथाम्बा

Dark green raw mangoes start arriving in the markets as the new year starts. I usually make this मेथाम्बा in this season. This lasts for a week ( If eaten as an accompaniment!!!)Aambadal and panhe (आम्बाडाळ  आणि पन्हे )are other varieties prepared from raw mango, which I will post after गुढी पाडवा.

Ingredients
1 cup raw mango pieces(peel off the skin)
2 cups jaggery ( depends on the sourness of the mango)
salt to taste

Tempering
2tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp asafoetida
1/2 tsp fenugreek
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
4-5 dry red chilies

Method

• Wash and peel off the skin of raw mango. Cut in halves. Remove the seed. Cut into 1 inch squares approximately.
• Heat oil in the pan. Add tempering ingredients one by one. As they sizzle, add mango pieces. Stir well and add a cup of water over it.
• Let the water boil and the pieces get cooked.
• As the pieces become transparent, add jaggery in it. Continue cooking till jaggery dissolves and the syrup becomes thick.
• Add salt to taste.
• Serve as an accompaniment with chapati or rice-n-curry.

Note
If the red chilies are not hot, add red chili powder in addition. The sour taste of raw mango, spice of red chili and sweetness of jaggery should be of equal strength. The aroma of fenugreek enhances all these flavors.

shiraLyachya shiranchi chaTNi

These ridges are tasty too!!

It's simple. Just stir fry the ridges on a griddle with few drops of oil. Add roasted sesame seeds for taste, freshly grated coconut for thickness, green chili for spicy taste, sugar,salt and few lemon drops to make it tangy. Grind in a mixer to make a smooth or coarse paste. Apply it on the bread to make a चटणी  chatni sandwich or relish with curry rice.