Summer Cooler... Watermelon!!

Woof!! it's getting HOT in here!!! Summer is here... it's that time of the year when the clothes start getting skimpier (and husband's who keep turning their neck in order to admire the pulchritude... hope you get a crick in your neck!)... kids cannonball into pools and yell .. you get the picture!

It is also time for some super summer coolers! No cokes, phokes for me please!!! I have always had this aversion to colas... I completely favour water and fruit juice (fresh fruit juice) ANYTIME! and what better time than now to experiment with a riot of flavours and fruit!!

Just sitting in a rocking chair with a chilled summer cooler.. a nice book to read.. the gentle breeze (oh yes, despite the heat, we do have the gentle wind blowing!) .. sipping slowly and just for that moment, forgetting the everyday hustle bustle !!! Feels GOOD!

And what better than getting a BIG watermelon ... cutting chunks of it, blending them with some vanilla ice cream ? Yep, that's what I did!!!

To make this drink all you need is:

Chunks of Watermelon (seedless is effortless!)

Scoops of vanilla Ice cream (or French Vanilla Ice cream )

Small cubes/ chunks of watermelon to top

Sorry, no measurements for this, just help yourself!

Blend the above in in a blender, pour into a glass , top with small cubes/ chunks of watermelon and serve!!

This will go to Bee & Jai of Jugalbandi who are hosting AFAM (A Fruit A Month) started by Maheshwari

A bit of gyan........Taste apart.. here are some benefits of the watermelon (source : Wiki)
Watermelon as food and drink
Fresh watermelon may be eaten in a variety of ways and is also often used to flavor summer drinks and smoothies.
A one-cup serving of watermelon will provide around 48 calories.Watermelon is an excellent source of vitamin C and vitamin A, with one serving containing 14.59 mg of vitamin C and 556.32 IU of vitamin A. Watermelon also provides significant amounts of vitamin B6 and vitamin B1, as well as the minerals potassium and magnesium. Pink watermelon is also a source of the potent carotenoid antioxidant, lycopene.
Grilled watermelon, known as watermelon steak due to its visual similarity to raw steak, has started to become a popular item in restaurants.
Watermelon rinds are also edible, and sometimes used as a vegetable. In China, they are stir-fried, stewed, or more often pickled. When stir-fried, the de-skinned and de-fruited rind is cooked with olive oil, garlic, chili peppers, scallions, sugar and rum (and provides a great way to utilize the whole watermelon). Pickled watermelon rind is also widespread in Russia, Ukraine, and Romania.[citation needed]
Watermelon seeds are rich in fat and protein, and are widely eaten as a snack, added to other dishes, or used as an oilseed. Specialized varieties are grown which have little watery flesh but concentrate their energy into seed production. In China watermelon seeds are one of the most common snack foods, popular especially with women, competing with sunflower seeds, and sold roasted and seasoned. In West Africa, they are pressed for oil, and are popular in egusi soup and other dishes. There can be some confusion between seed-specialized watermelon varieties and the colocynth, a closely-related species with which they share many characteristics, uses, and similar or identical names.
Watermelon is 92 % water by weight, the highest percentage of any fruit. In the United States and South Africa, one may also find an alcoholic novelty known as a hard watermelon, or a watermelon that has been enhanced with an alcoholic beverage. This process involves boring a hole into the watermelon, then pouring the liquor inside and allowing it to mix with the flesh of the fruit. The watermelon is then cut and served as normal.

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Vangya chi rassa bhaji- JFI Eggplant and RCI Maharashtra

The Marathi 'Goda Masala' works for everything!! The main use is in making the everyday 'amti', add the amti to rice, ghee/ tup (if one does not really count calories) and a wedge of mango or lime pickle , will have you licking your fingers!!

Bedekar brand of Goda Masala is one which every lady will blindly put her trust in! in fact she will trust anything that is sold under that brand! (no, I am not advertising this brand!!!) , but this was the brand I have seen as my Mother's choice!

Now apart from the everyday amti.. Mom would use this to season vegetables too, especially when making 'vangya chi rassa bahji' (brinjal/eggplant in gravy). She made this vegetable with lots of onion and potato, which I would eat and cast aside any piece of the brinjal.

Since M is a BIG fan of 'Baingan Raja' I try to make some variety for him... but this is the first time I can,partly, vouch for the taste of anything that has brinjal in it! You see I cast aside every brinjal piece and tasted the rest..

To make this vegetable :

1 med. size Italian Eggplant or 3-4 small eggplants

1 Onion

1 Potato

2 green chillies (+/- to taste)

1 tsp Goda Masala

1/2 tsp Tamarind Concentrate (or soak and extract juice of a marble size ball of tamarind)

1 lump Jaggery (should be double the quantity of the tamarind)

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

Dash asafetida

1/4 tsp Turmeric

4 tbsp Roasted peanut powder

2 tbsp Oil

Wash and cut the eggplant into cubes. Slice the onion and potato lengthwise (or make cubes)

Heat oil . Add the mustard seeds. After they pop, add the asafetida, green chillies and turmeric.

Add the onion and potato. Mix well, cover and cook till half done. Next add the eggplant and cook till it is soft. I added the eggplant once the onions and potato was half done as eggplant needs less time to cook.

Add 1 cup of water, goda masala, tamarind conc. , jaggery and roasted peanut powder, salt cover and cook.

Reduce the quantity of water if you want the vegetable gravy to have a thick consistency.

Garnish with cilantro and serve with roti/ fulka/ bhakri

I made huge eggplant cubes, to make it easier to remove them, ideally make small - med size cubes.

This will go to Sangeeta of Ghar ka khana and aslo as an entry for RCI -Maharashtra hosted by Nupur at One Hot Stove

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Lagnacha Masale Bhaat

Another FAVOURITE dish coming right up!!!
LAGNACHA Masale Bhaat... I have always called it by this name... reason, well, this is a must have in most Maharashtrian weddings.
I remember in my childhood (gosh, makes me feel so very old when I say this!!!) when weddings were not as grand as today not with multi-cuisine. The menu was (mostly)Varan Bhaat, Masale Bhaat, Puri- Bhaji, Jilebi/ Gulab Jamun, bhaji and with mattha to wash it down. What distinguished this Masale Bhaat was the flavour! It was made on a typical 'Chulha' / 'shegdi' and coked on a coal fire. The tantalising aroma of the masale bhaat would waft thru the entire hall and make all the wedding guests very hungry and immediately after the 'muhurat' they would make a dash for the dining area where the tables would be neatly set with either gleaming plates or banana leaves.

I would eat only Masale Bhaat! That was the prime reason why I attended the wedding!! Somehow home made masale bhaat does not carry that 'punch'.. or so i thought!!

Till the day I came upon this version I had to try this!!! I had taken a print out long back, meaning to try it out, but I did not have a coffee / spice grinder then... but now that I do, I was very eager to add this recipe to my Favourites!! So here goes....

The only changes I made were in using 3 cloves and 1 , 2cm stick of Cinnamon (M claims that he 'smokes' fumes thru his ears and nose after getting 'hit' with lavang /clovesand dalchini/ cinnamon!), and i could not get any fresh tondli/ gherkins , so I substituted the same with onion and potato

I am putting down the recipe ( copy pasted from Ashwini's blog) for easy reference, the link is also provided above.

MASALE BHAAT (serves 2-3)

1 cup Basmati rice

1 cup gherkins (tondli/ tindora), quartered (I used 1 med. onion and 1 med potato sliced thin)

1/3 cup + 2 tbsp dry, shredded coconut (copra)

4 cloves2 (2cms) cinnamon sticks

1 tbsp sesame seeds

2 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds

2 tsp cumin seeds1 tsp mustard seeds

a few curry leaves

a pinch of asafoetida

3-4 green chillies, slit (adjust to taste)

5-6 cashewnuts, broken

3-4 tbsp oil

salt to taste

fresh coconut and cilantro for garnishing

Wash the rice in two to three changes of water. Drain and keep aside.On moderate heat, roast the copra, coriander seeds, cumin, sesame, cloves and cinnamon till the coconut turns golden. Let cool. Put in a spice/ coffee grinder and grind into a powder. Keep aside.Heat oil in a pan. When hot, add mustard seeds. When they begin to pop, add curry leaves, asafoetida and chillies and saute for a few minutes. Next add gherkins and saute some more. Add rice and mix well. Add the powdered spices and mix until the rice is well coated. Add cashews and season to taste. Add about two cups of water, cover the pan with a lid and cook until the rice is done.Garnish with fresh coconut and cilantro. Serve hot with a raita and fried papad.

This recipe is a keeper!! AWESOME!!!! Though I tried this recipe from a fellow blogger I would like to include it for RCI @ Nupur's One Hot Stove as it is the first time I have tried making this dish and from scratch.. and I was soooooooooooooooooooo thrilled that it turned out just the way I wanted it!!! Pin It

WBB- Spice it up!!!!

Spicing up Breakfast!!!! Hmmm.... How? seemed impossible ... (that's the pessimist in me!) Then I was reminded of Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass......(now the optimist in me is rearing up it's head!!!) These words came sliding back to my mind, Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said 'one can't believe impossible things.' 'I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why,sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast...' .... There you are!! that's the way to think!!!
Stressing myself then like the Queen in the story, I came up with an easy yet tasty and a dish that is going in as my entry for WBB-Spice it up!! hosted by Trupti.

When it comes to breakfast, I am a regular... I need my breakfast, not so with the husband.. in the initial stages of marriage, I would coax him, flutter my eyelashes... after a while that stopped working , so it came to putting on a hurt look and the sad drooping of the mouth.. but now, the best part... I make yummy stuff, and I can still hear him in the background.."na , na... no breakfast for me, you have it... I am not a b'fast person.... yada..yada..." I simply nod in his direction... go on with my work.. tastefully arrange the food on a plate, and with a twinkle in my eyes, plonk right next to him and eat.. slowly, savouring every bite... ummm!!! All you intelligent people can guess what happens after a tantalising smell wafts to his nose and the sight of me enjoying something so well!

Slowly... he says" what.. do you have here?" (still feigning disinterest)

"dufssast", I utter, with my mouth full (I know Mom says its bad manners, par kya karen? control nahi hota!)

"What?"

"You wamt?"

"Hmmmm.???"

"Twy..."

"ok.. .."So here is M's breakfast, spiced up !!

Here's how I made it!
Pre requisite to making this .... the pan, in India we call it 'appey patra' here you will get it labeled under 'aebleskiver pan' (which I came to know after I read this post ) What you need ,once you have the pan...

1 cup Aunt Jemima Pancake mix
3/4 cup Water
1/2 Onion, finely chopped
1-2 Green Chillies Finely chopped (+/- to taste)
2-3 tbsp. Cilantro finely chopped
Salt to taste
Oil Spray/ Oil/ Butter

Mix all the ingrdients from Pancake mix to salt. Heat the pan on a medium flame. Spray with oil or pour a few drops of oil / butter, into each mould. Add a spoonful (do not fill to the brim) of the batter into each mould. After a few minutes(I did not time this, I just hovered over the pan), flip on the other side and cook till it is a lovely golden brown too. Serve hot.
I also made red bell pepper chutney from Mahanandi ... which I must say, is AWESOME!!!!

These should be eaten immediately.

Thank You Trupti, for hosting this event!! Looking forward to all spicy entries!!

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V is for Varan Bhaat and Vangi Kaap

Darn the camera!! As it is I am a lousy photographer.. to add on.. the lousy camera!!

OK, I'm done with my display of despair... thank u for bearing with me!

This is 'The' simplest meal and also one of the most comforting foods of all time is the down-to-earth 'Varan Bhaat' that is made in every Maharashtrian home. This simple meal can be made without any fuss and more importantly, without oil!

The simplicity of making it is something that will make u clap your hands in glee and get down to making it and one morsel of this 'varan-bhaat' will have you hooked!! Varan- bhaat is served with with a wedge of lemon and a dollop of 'shudh ghee'. The best part is this pure food (for want of better way of putting it) lies in the fact that there are no 'masalas' in it. A delight for the young and old and a must have for every occasion, weddings, pooja's, festival time and also when recuperating from an illness!!!

How to make this Varan?

1/2 cup Toor daal

2 pinches Asafetida

1/4 tsp. Turmeric

Salt to taste

Jaggery - small lump (Optional)

1 1/2 cup Water

Wash the Toor Daal in 3-4 changes of water. Add water, asafetida, salt, turmeric and jaggery. Set it in the pressure cooker and cook for up to 3 whistles or as long as it takes the cooker to cook daal to a mush.

Once the daal is cooked,remove from the cooker, with a spoon mash and mix evenly. If it is too thick, add little of water, keeping in mind that it has to be thick. That's it!!!

The ghee melted by the time I captured the picture :(

As an accompaniment to the Varan bhaat, I made Vangi Kaap.. for M

I believe every cuisine from every region in India has their own version of making this accompaniment! Here is my Maharashtrian Version

You need:
1 Large Brinjal (eggplant /vangi/ baingan) , sliced into med-thick slices
1/4 tsp. EACH, turmeric, Red Chilly pwd., Cumin pwd., Corriander pwd., Amchur pwd.
1/2 tsp, Rice Flour
1/2 tsp Sooji / rava/ Farina (this was my inclusion)
Salt to taste
Oil to shallow fry

Mix all the dry ingredients. Spray the brinjal slices with a bit of oil, sprinkle the masala on it (on both sides). Heat a skillet. Drizzle the oil on the skillet and then place the seasoned brinjal slices . Cook on a medium heat on both sides. Serve with lunch/ dinner. As an option, to keep it very simple, you can also exclude the cumin-corriander powder and use the basics to make vangi kaap.

This will go to Nupur as my contribution for V of the A-Z of Indian Vegs. ...

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Happy Father's Day

For MY Father... MY HERO!!!! LOVE U BABA!!!!




This is a SPECIAL Wish for my Dearest Father (In Law)whom I love as much as My Baba!!!


- From the LUCKIEST girl in the whole world !!! Pin It

Upvasache Sabudana Thailpeeth

This is a slight variation to the ever popular Sabudana khichadi. I learnt this one from my Naani (Grandmother), she would often make this for my Mama's (Uncle) lunch box.

Summer vacation always meant going to my Grandma's. All cousins would be there... those glorious, sunshine filled days (the same sunshine which now makes me shrink into shades where I can find them... makes me smear my face with sunblock- which makes me feel sticky and cross, even if it the non-oily types! and gives me headaches!)playing endless games, thinking up new ways to bother other kids, occasionally bully them.. break all rules laid down by my Uncle (who had to be strict with us and*had to* punish us EVERY evening) devour meals cooked by Grandma and at night, dim the lights in the living room and watch T.V (black and white in those days).. aaah those were the days!

On one evening however, to his (my uncle's) ever lasting amazement, we behaved! So the usual *stand in the corner facing the wall* for me & my girl cousin and plonking my boy cousins on top of an old iron almirah with folded hands and lips tight shut, was waived!

On that peaceful evening, my Grandma decided to usher me and my cousin into the kitchen and give us a bit of instruction, which of course is useful now, but the main intention , I maintain to this day was, to keep us from mischief and thereby incurring the wrath of my uncle and the resulting punishment. That saved us, because in a few minutes, we heard something break with a resounding clash followed by the customary angry snort and then *plonk*...*plonk*..... *Silence*, which is often termed as a long pregnant silence.

Shaking her head in resignation and sighing at the unavoidable, Grandma started teaching us (which was a bit difficult, given the fact that we were giggling and sneaking out in between to look at the boys ,wink at them and put out our tongues at them, knowing fully well that they could not retaliate!! Oh YES!! we found it rather amusing at that age!! )

So all I gathered at that age... and reinforced later was..

2 cups Soaked Sabudana / Sago

2 large Boiled Potatoes

1 tsp of Cumin and Green chilly paste

Salt to taste

1/4 cup roasted Peanut powder

Sugar

3-4 tbsp Chopped cilantro

Ghee to shallow fry

Mash the potato .

Mix all the above listed ingredients, except ghee

On a thick plastic bag/ sheet, place a tennis ball size ball of the mixture and pat it into a round roti shape. make a few holes in the thalipeeth.

Heat a non -stick skillet/ fry pan

Gently transfer the thalipeeth on to it. Put ghee in the holes and around the thalipeeth

Cook on both sides to a nice golden colour

Serve with Yogurt / coconut chutney of your choice.

This will go to Nupur for the 'U' of the A-Z of Indian Vegs. and also RCI-Maharashtra , which she will hosting this month. Pin It

MBP- June GOING LITE WITH KURMURA CHIWDA

ATTACK OF THE MUNCHIES!!! here I go again... at regular intervals I get this terrible urge to munch.. munch... munch... especially after work! When Coffee announced this month's theme of going 'light' after feasting on sweets.. I browsed around till I came to this recipe from Kitchen Aromas and Roopa's version of this chiwda was just what I was looking for!

It also brought back days of childhood, when I'd come back after school, fling my satchel, pluck shoes and socks (eewww!!) chuck them into some corner and head straight to the kitchen (so who washes their hands!!!) and raid the shelves for whatever I could lay my hands on. With no parental control (both parents were working) I would eat anything and everything that was there.. Thus satiated, I would kick up a fuss at dinnertime, making sick faces at the vegetables and roti.

Fed up with my behaviour, Mom brought fruit , made some item like poha/ upma for me and kept it ready for me for after school, but that did not help, I would still climb up on the chair, reach out to the shelves and pig out!

My father used to get every 2nd. and 4th. Saturday off, from work and so on one such Saturday, he made Kurmura chiwda for me.. this was something after my heart!! My Dad is a fairly good cook and I enjoyed watching him pottering about the kitchen. So on that Saturday he plonked me on one end of the cooking platform, 'ota' as it is called in Marathi and got together all the stuff he needed and within minutes my 'khau' was ready!

I made some changes to Roopa's recipe and modelled it as per my Dad's version

1 packet Kurmura/ Mamri

1/2 cup raw Peanuts

1/4 cup Dalia / DaLa (Marathi word)

6 Green Chillies ( +/- to taste)

3 Dry Red chillies

1 tsp each, mustard and cumin seeds

~20 Curry Leaves

1/2 tsp asafetida/ hing

Turmeric ( I did not measure this, so approx. 1 tsp)

2 tbsp. Oil

Salt & sugar to taste

Assemble all the ingredients. Chop the green chillies, wash and pat dry the curry leaves. Break the red chilly into two.

Heat oil in a kadhai/ wok. Add the raw peanuts and dalia, once they turn light golden brown, add mustard seeds and jeera/ cumin seeds. Add the asafetida. Pitch in the green chilly, red chilly and curry leaves. Saute them till they look crunchy. Add Turmeric. Add the kurmura, mix thoroughly. Add salt and sugar. Mix. At this point switch off the stove. let the chiwda cool, store in an airtight container. Munch when u feel like it!!

A variation to this can be... add some farsan, finey chopped onion and tomato, squeeze lemon juice ( and small bits of raw mango, when in season) Garnish with cilantro... u have 'sukha bhel' ready!!! Pin It

Kairi Panha

Thanda ..Thanda ...Cool... Cool!!!! That's what come to my mind when I think of this simple but amazingly refreshing summer drink!!

Picture this ... HOT weather... HOT MUMBAI weather..... sweat... humidity...dehydration... playing in the streets (without any footwear!! crazy right??!) makes one tired...... rush home, fling open the fridge door, grab the bottle of 'panha', add some water (an ice cube or 2 if u have the time), quick stir... glug..glug...glug...glug .... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Repeat the same procedure....

Back to the present.....I'ts a pity that we do not get the 'real' raw mangoes here... one has to compromise a lot in terms of the taste and texture.

I picked up 2 raw mangoes at the Indian store, but to my enormous disappointment they were not even close to what I am used to! I mean, imagine biting into a piece of 'kairi'..... your eyes are bound to close, mouth pucker up and go 'tchak'!!

Anyway, here I was, 2 raw mangoes, practically no taste and memories of a childhood , where summers were linked to raids on the fridge for 'panha'...

To re-create the magic i took :

2 raw mangoes / kairi

Jaggery (grated)

1 Cardamom (powdered)

Few strands saffron

* notice I have not mentioned mentioned the amount of jaggery, that is because it is dependant on the sour tast of the raw mango, so for this I used 'andaz' (guess)

Pressure cook the raw mangoes for up to 3 whistles (or as many as it would take to cook daal in your pressure cooker)

When they cool down, remove the cover and the seed and mash up the rest of the raw mango. Add grated jaggery, cardamom and saffron. Taste and check if the sweet-sour combination is right, if too sour add some more jaggery.

I usually run the whole thing thru the blender to make it uniform and also ensure that the jaggery is mixed thoroughly

Store this concentrate in a bottle in your fridge.

To serve, add the concentrate to a glass, add some water and ice cubes, serve... Enjoy!!!

You can use sugar instead of jaggery as a sweetener, however i prefer the taste of jaggery and the benefits too! Jaggery also lends the panha a dark colour ( M made remarks of my panha looking like beer.. ! I ask u!!!) unlike sugar.
This is another contribution to RCI event, hosted this month by Nupur at One Hot Stove

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Ratalyacha Kees

In continuance to my last post on RCI Maharashtra, where I mentioned about 'ratlyacha kees', which is another 'fasting' food that is made in the Maharashtrian homes. Variety is the spice of life.. wonder who coined that term, might have been a Maharashtrian ....

See why we love fasting? The sheer variety of food!

Along with the Sabudana Khichadi, one also takes a bit of 'kees' on the side. What do we mean by kees? In simple terms. One cleans the Ratala (sweet potato / yam, as it is called here) and grates it, thereby giving the arms a good bit of exercise. This is then seasoned and cooked with simple spices (no onion-garlic please!) to a wonderful dish!

Here's how you make it

1 big Yam ( I got one that was the size of a normal coconut!!)

1/2 cup of roasted peanuts, powdered

1 Serrano chilly

2-3 tbsp. Ghee

1 tsp. Cumin seeds

1 tbsp Sugar (more , if u like a sweetish taste)

Salt to taste

Cilantro to Garnish

Wash the yam clean, dry it and grate it. Finely chop the chilly or, grind the chilly and the cumin seeds together.

Heat Ghee in a wok/ kadhai. Add the chilly-cumin Add the grated yam. Cover and cook till soft.

Add the ground peanut powder, salt sugar, mix thoroughly. Cover and cook for another 3-4 mins.

Garnish with cilantro and serve.

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S is for Sambar

Here I am with another Sambar, this time with vegetables... for Nupur's A-Z of Veges.

Here is what Wiki has to say about sambar .. however, even without this history on sambar, we can safely say..'isey to bacha, bacha janta hai!!' . A must at almost all meals in South Indian homes and well loved by almost everyone!

When I was in college, Ruia in Matunga, Mumbai, for those who are familiar with it, there is a small restaurant called Mani's Lunch home.. in those days we got Idli Sambar for just Rs. 5.50/- and the BEST part was the unlimited chutney and sambar. We would greedily slurp all the sambar and take so many servings that the idli would, by then, get crumbly and disappear into the hot sambar!! Trust me when I say, we made a meal out of it!! To date, I haven't tasted 'that' kind of sambar!!

So today I made another attempt to recreate 'that' magic..... I admit, I was not close, but the end result was quite satisfactory!

3/4 cup Toor Daal

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

Chopped vegetables (3 nos. Okra, 5-6 cubes radish, 8-10 Madras onion/ pearl onion)

1/2 tsp. Tamarind concentrate (or soak a marble size ball of tamarind in warm water for 15 mins., squeeze out the pulp and discard the solids)

2 tsp. Sambar Powder ( I used MTR brand)

1 tbsp. Oil

1/2 tsp Each Mustard seeds and Cumin seeds

2 nos. red chilly

5-7 curry leaves

2 pinches Asafetida

Salt to taste

small lump Jaggery (optional)

Wash the daal , add double the quantity water to washed daal, add turmeric powder and pressure cook it till soft and mushy

Heat oil, Add the mustard seeds , once the sputter, add Cumin seeds, red chillies, curry leaves and asafetida

Add the vegetables , cover and cook till tender, add water if needed to aid cooking

Add the tamarind conc. / juice, jaggery (opt.) water, salt and bring to a rolling boil.

Add the sambar powder and then the cooked daal.

Cook for 10 mins, till the aroma wafts in the house!

Serve with idli / dosa/ rice

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Sabudana Khichadi

As we move on to S of the A-Z of Indian Vegetables at One Hot Stove and RCI (Regional Cuisines of India) hosted by Nupur ,we travel to Maharashtra....

Maharashtra.. Mahan Rashtra!! The land of saints..

The land of Raje Shivaji....

The Land of great Artists
Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki
Pt. Bhimsen Joshi
The Nightingale Lata Mangeshkar
Kishori Amonkar

PuLa The Marathi P.G.Wodehouse!!
And the land of Ganesh Utav!

The Marathi LAVNI!





AND.. (the part we have been waiting for!!!!) the land of GOOD FOOD... naaah, make it GREAT FOOD!!
Like all states, Maharashtra also has a lot of reasons to fast (upvas), sankasti, ekadashi, angarki and ofcourse Monday for Shankar Bhagwan, Tuesday for Ganpati... so on... for the rest of the week.. I have often wondered what is the objective of fasting..... pleasing the Gods? exercising self-control? Internal cleansing? or just another reason to cook some yummy food?
Take for instance,the first reason, pleasing the Gods... how can one please 33 crore Gods by fasting for 1 day?
Self-control? Can staying away from food for 1 day prove that one is in total control?
Internal cleansing, otherwise also known as langhan (loosely...avoiding food, consume only liquids) .. right!! and for the remaining days EAT..EAT..EAT!!
So, cook yummy food.. bingo! that is the explanation!! Take for instance..
"Tomorrow is ekadashi, are you fasting?"
" Are you making sabudana khichadi?"
"Yes"
"YES! "
This was a standard dialogue when I was small... fasting meant only one thing, Sabudana khichadi! This is an all time fav!! Commonly termed as 'fast' (not as in fast food) but,upvas food, this snack is welcome on non-fast days too.
My mother used to make this many a times for my lunch box (I was one of those finicky kids, who always wanted variety in my lunch box)

Sabudana or Sago, looks like small homeopathy pills... and while u describe homeopathy pills u say 'sabudana size pills' !

Making sabudana khichadi (for first timers) is probably not that easy. My best friend (who is a Delhiite) loves this dish and when in B school, once tried her,then, inexperienced hand at it... well to make a long story short... ended up with a gummy mess which firmly and stubbornly stuck to the wok and the ladle. The trick is to get the sabudana non-sticky and non-soggy!
So here's my sure fire recipe for getting a slap up sabudana khichadi



1 cup sabudana/ sago
1/2 cup Ground , roasted peanut powder (I make mine fine, but u can choose to keep it a bit rough)
1 Med Potato , sliced thinly
1-2 Green chillies (+/- to taste)
1 tsp Cumin / jeera seeds
3-4 tbsp Ghee
Salt to taste
Sugar
Cilantro to garnish
Grated Fresh coconut to garnish


Do the prep.
Wash the sabudana 2-3 times.
Add water to soak and soften , keep the level just about 1-2 cms above the sabudana level. Cover and keep, soak sabudana for at least 6-8 hours. I normally soak it overnight.

Add the ground peanut powder to the soft sabudana, add salt and sugar and mix well
Chop the green chillies or (this is what I do) Grind together the cumin and chillies
Heat about 2 tbsp ghee in a kadhai / wok.
Add the green chillies and cumin .Add thinly sliced potato, add this after you have added the chilly-cumin mix and cook till tender
Add the sabudana mix.
Cover and cook for 5 + mins
After you remove the cover, you will notice that the colour and texture of the sabudana has changed. it is now looking a bit transparent
Now DO NOT cover to cook, this will make it sticky
Drizzle another 2 tbsp of ghee around the kadhai/ wok.
Check for salt and sugar
Mix well and cook for another 5-7 mins.
Garnish with coconut and cilantro and serve hot
Khichadi can also be served with a dollop of yogurt.

The sugar is optional , but I just love that slightly sweetish taste that the khichadi acquires along with the spicy taste, so I am more than a little generous with the sugar!

Khichadi can be served , garnished with cilantro and a dash of lemon juice. however, some also prefer it with a coconut-cilantro chutney or plain yogurt.

Another side dish, served with khichadi is 'Ratala Kees' (post coming up soon)

This is one of my entries for the RCI event.. I have planned some more, hope i can make all those!!! See you all soon .. Have a lovely weekend!!

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R is for Ringan Curry and Radish Sambar

The first time I heard 'Ringan' ... I absolutely did not connect it to the eggplant.. and had it not been mentioned in a blog (Trupti's!!) , I would never have known!! Well, well... so here we are, yet another eggplant recipe! For someone like me, who would not eat eggplant to save her life... I keep buying it for my significant other half.... and this time googling for recipes I came across this recipe, which was easy and different. Having come across recipes where the eggplant was subjected to roasting, stuffing, baking, this was the first, when I saw this vegetable cooked with methi / fenugreek leaves, and so I decided to make an attempt at cooking it

Ingredients:
500 g Fresh ringan / eggplant
200 g Finely chopped tomatoes
10 Pcs finely chopped green chilies (+/-)
½ Bunch finely chopped fresh methi bhaji
1 Tsp haldi
Salt to taste
2 Tsp dhana-jeera

Vaghar ( Tempering ) :
¼ Cup Oil
¼ Tsp Rai
¼ Tsp Methi
¼ Tsp Jeera
Pinch of Hing

Garnish:
¼ Bunch finely chopped fresh dhania.

Method:
Wash and cut the ringan into cubes of about 1 inch. (cut ringan when you are about ready to cook. Rub the pieces into about half a teaspoon of salt to stop them turning into black color.)

Vaghar (Tempering) :
Heat oil in a saucepan and add all the other ingredients for tempering
Add fresh methi and cook for few minutes, steering from time to time. Add pieces of ringan, mix well and cook for about five minutes
Add salt, chilies, haldi and cook further ten to fifteen minutes till ringan are fully cooked
Add dhania-jeera powder and cook for further two to three minutes on a very low heat.

I have no idea how this tasted.. However M was of the opinion that it was 'ok' .. 'ummm'..'hum, good', so I leave it to you guys to try and test and taste!

I also made Radish Sambar. For this recipe I peeked into Mahanandi and had wonderful results!! I am not too fond of radish.. too strong for me and so far have never eaten a radish salad, or vegetable... but I do like Mooli ka Parantha... that is the only exception. I was not too sure of how well this would taste in sambar... I mean would it affect the taste with the tartness? Thankfully no, the taste of sambar is as good as it can get!!! Thank U Indira!!!

Excellent accompaniment with Rice, Dosa, Idli.. Yenjoy!!!

This is going in as my entry for 'R' of Nupur's A-Z of Indian Veges

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Regional Cuisines of India - Andhra Pradesh: Pullihora & Pesarattu

The first time I tasted this cuisine was when I was visiting my cousin who lives in Bangalore. We went to a place called 'Nagarjuna' which I believe is in MG Road. The place was jam packed, and I attributed that to the fact that it was dinner time , so it was natural... foolish me! on entering the eating area, one whiff of the enticing aromas and I was ..........behaving like I was one who was deprived meals for a long time!

For a long time,I lost touch with this wonderful cuisine (and I shamefully admit, in college, Bschool.. whenever I ate anything from the South of India, I never categorised it.. it was just southie food!)

But as luck would have it, I am married to a Kannadiga who is a total Andhra Food FAN!! And as luck would have it again.... we lived in Bangalore for a short while before USA.. and Bangalore has a plethora of Andhra restaurants to choose from, so cooking an evening meal was a rare event.... so we freaked out on the food practically every evening Bheemas, Nandhini Palace, RR's, Gongura, Madhuri's to name a few regular haunts( till one day I refused... the proud cook rebelled!)

But now, I miss the yummy food too.. and try my hand at some (easy) stuff and congratulate myself when it turns out well!!

So for RCI -Andhra I made Pulihora and Pesarattu (Spicy Onion Pancakes)

For the recipes I peeped into Lokpriya and from the variety there, I chose this rice dish. This is a simple and easy to make recipe and which is great for our lunch boxes, no need for any accompaniments, but a pickle / raita (because I am partial to it!) may go well with it.Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
1 cup Rice
1/4 cup Bengal gram dal
1/2 cup Tamarind pulp
12 Curry leaves
4 tablespoons Oil
2 tablespoons Urad dal
1/2 teaspoon Mustard seeds
2 Red chillies
2 Green chillies
1/4 teaspoon Turmeric powder
4 tablespoons Sesame seed powder
1 tablespoon Cashew nuts
1 piece Ginger
1 pinch Asafoetida
Salt (As per taste)
Wash the rice and dal together and cook adding enough water. Make sure not to overcook.Pour the cooked rice into a big bowl, add turmeric powder, 2 tablespoons oil, salt, tamarind pulp and 7-8 curry leaves.Heat oil in a sauce pan, add the urad dal, mustard seeds and cashew nuts. When the seeds begin to crackle, add red chillies(broken into half), ginger, curry leaves, slit green chillies and asafoetida. Remove from fire and add it to the rice. Add the sesame powder, mix well and leave it covered for an hour to allow the rice to absorb the ingredients.

Pessarettu : Now anything that comes into the Dosa line is always , always welcome in our home! Both M and I enjoy dosas with variations! So when I read this recipe and saw how easy it was to make it, I jumped to it! Surprisingly, I have never eaten this when in B'lore! Maybe I was too happy pigging out over the meals! And those were so filling that all we were capable of, after dinner , was staggering home, rolling like fat ducks (no make that one duck-me!!). Now I made a combination of recipes here ... the basic recipe source is Lokpriya and after looking atPrema's recipe I did the same! used upma as a stuffing ! This was an unsual combination for us and we both absolutely LOVED it!!! I made Onion chutney to go with the Pesarattu, which was a HIT!!! and the usual Sambar.
For the Pesarattu :

Ingredients
1/2 kg whole green gram (moong)
2 cups Water
1 teaspoon Chopped ginger
4 Green chillies
2 Sliced onions
1/2 teaspoon Cumin powder
1/2 bunch Chopped coriander leaves
1 cup Oil
Salt (As per taste)
Method: Soak moong dal (green gram) in water for 2-3 hours. Drain all but one cup water and grind to a paste with ginger, salt and green chillies. Add enough water to make a thick batter, mix well. Add cumin powder and coriander leaves to the chopped onion and keep aside.Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan, pour one ladle of the batter into the frying pan and spread out like a thin pancake. Pour ½ tsp oil around the edges and cook the pancake on medium heat.Sprinkle some of the chopped onion mixture in the middle of the pancake and spread evenly. When the pesarattu is well cooked, add more oil and fry till edges are crisp. Fold in half and take off flame. Repeat for rest of the batter.Serve hot with sambhar, pickle or chutney.

For the Upma:

I roasted 1 cup Sooji/ Rava/ Farina in 1 tsp. oil, till fragrant. In a wok / kadhai, heat 1-2 tbsp oil, add 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds, 1/2 tbsp. Urid daal , 1/2 tbsp. Channa Daal. After the Mustard pops, and the dals are a lovely golden brown, add 1/2 tsp Jeera/ Cumin seeds and 1/4 tsp Hing/ Asafetida. To this tadka, add 1 finely chopped Green Chilly and a few curry leaves.

Add 2 1/4 cups water. Once the water boils, add juice of 1 lemon, 2 tsp sugar. Slowly add the roasted Sooji. Mix well, so that no lumps are formed. Cover and cook for 4-5 mins. Drizzle 1 tsp. of butter/ ghee on the sides and cover and cook for another 2 mins.

Upma is ready!

Makes only 6-7 Pesarattu with this measure.... which is not enough :( , well, maybe for one meal ( this can become a meal!!!), but I feel like I want to have some more today as well!

This is going to Lata of Masala Magic as my entry for RCI- Andhra Pradesh Cuisine. Thank U Lata for hosting the event for this month!

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Monthly Blog Patrol....For SWEETS!!!!!!!!

Coffee!!! I love u Gal... no matter what anyone says!! You picked a theme real close to my heart...
I know all about expanding waistlines ... nevertheless, hope springs eternal in my heart, that one day, if I keep wishing hard, I will get my wish of becoming slim-n-trim, being able to east whatever I please and not gain an ounce!!! Till such time... eat, drink and be merry... for tomorrow we may diet!

Well, it's today now and right now... I have sweets on mind , for Coffee's MBP..
Patrolling Blogs gave me tioo many options, ALL of which I obviously wanted to try, but limited myself to the ones I am blogging about now (reason, M was going bonkers!! and I largely relied on the ingredients I had at home)

I tried Yummmmmmmmmmm Ali... I mean Umm Ali!!! from Aroma.. Asha sure whipped up a *wicked* dessert!!!! I tried it with Phyllo dough, but maybe puff pastry will be a better choice, for next time!! I forgot to take a nice picture of it in a decorative plate.. too eager to eat!!!

BTW,Asha, if you are reading this.... just a query, why did my Umm Ali turn a tad soggy? Phyllo, do u suppose?
And I made Banana Nut cake Adapting it from Swapna of Swad of India

Both these recipes were AWESOME!!! I know I am going to gain weight... but that is for later, as of now.... I'm Lovin' it!!!

Thank U Coffee for this sweet choice! What's next?

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Q is for........

Quesadillas sprang to my mind when we had to come up with Q.. not exactly Desi, eh? Yes that popped up in my mind too, but the desi touch to it, is using Palak and Rajma in the recipes...

My liking for Mexican cuisine is a new development... firstly, in India I had eaten it in Delhi once, and frankly, I did not like it ....that much... gimme my pizza!!!

Coming in the US of A, the Hubby took me to Baja Fresh, where I had my first taste of Quesadilla... a HUGE disappointment where I was concerned (but I still managed a watery smile for M's sake, he looked like he was really enjoying it), there seemed to be NO taste to what I was eating... several doubts flashed in my mind.....

Was M really enjoying this.... why? how?

Are my taste buds DEAD?

Is there ANY taste to this?

So after the initial 2 bites of the bland, saltless and tasteless quesadilla (to put it across straight and in a desi way... 2 rotis stuck together with cheese..) I got myself loads of spicy salsa and jalapenos from the counter and ate the rest of my share with it... with an incredulous M gaping a me and murmuring ... " you are NO vegetarian... you are a Spicitarian.... don't blame me tomorrow if you have problems, you have been warned".... I shot back saying... " I'm warning you, NOT to bring me to this joint again.. bland food, I've tasted better food in hospitals..".

But now, over a period of time, I really enjoy eating Mexican food (but not in Baja Fresh, I still do not go there) and sometimes point out the common points in their cuisine and ours.. like salsa... not unlike our 'tomato kanda koshimbir' ... tortillas... like rotis.... just with variety... flour, corn...

M just shrugs and asks if I am in a mood to eat roti stuffed with cheese and floating in sauce(enchiladas ... my Fav and only available choice ) and koshimbir... with a knife and fork. I nod gleefully and trot off in that direction!!!

Quesadilla With Spinach and Cheese
2 Med. Tortillas ( I used Flour)
1 serving Spinach (I used frozen chopped Spinach)
1/2 cup Shredded Cheese
1/2 tsp Taco seasoning

For frozen Spinach, Cook as per directions on pack
Warm the tortillas on a skillet
On one tortilla spread the cooked spinach, sprinkle the seasoning
Layer with cheese and sprinkle with a little salt.
Put the other tortilla on top, gently transfer to the skillet once again and lightly toast on both sides
( I toasted the Quesadilla with the cheese side down so that it would melt and 'stick' the tortillas together)
Serve with Guacamole, Salsa ( I used Trader Joe's Roasted Garlic and tomato salsa, it is Medium spicy) and sour cream

Quesadilla Torte

4 lg Flour Tortillas
16 oz Can Black Beans (I used good ol' RAJMA)
1 ½ c Monterey Jack Cheese shredded
1 ½ c Tomato Salsa
1 sm Head Iceberg Lettuce;
½ c Plain Non-Fat Yogurt
Cilantro Leaves

Directions
Preheat the oven to 500øF. Spray a large pie pan with cooking spray. Lay one tortilla in the pan. Rinse black beans under cold running water, then drain. Whirl in the food processor to make a rough puree, adding ¼ cup cheese and 2 tb salsa. Paint ½ of the bean mixture onto the first tortilla. Top with cheese and salsa. Add the next tortilla and repeat. Add the top tortilla. Spray with cooking spray. Bake in the oven until bubbly and brown, about 7-10 minutes. While the torte is baking, divide the lettuce among serving plates. When browned, cut the torte into wedges, place on the serving plates and spoon a dollop of yogurt on top. Garnish with cilantro leaves.
Recipe Source:
http://www.cajuncookingrecipes.com/

Questions I asked myself:

Is this what it is supposed to look like? Have I made a mistake? Is this supposed to look like a pizza? I am still not sure!!! So, if I have goofed on the Torte recipe, do let me know, I will take it off.

This is my entry for Nupur's A-Z of Vegetables and hopefully I have something fully 'Desi' coming up....

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Q is (also) for Quick Mango Pickle

Summer... unbearable heat.. VACATION from school (no more papers, no more rules... no more teacher's dirty looks!!) ... ice cream... Mangoes!!! aam ka panna and Ma-ke- haath-ka- achaar!!!

The final on the list was my favourite! I used to wait for Mom to make raw mango pickle at home! Watch her choose raw mangoes at the vendor, checking their firmness... always egg her to buy more than her customary 1 kg ( I always wanted her to go with 5 kgs. , that would have been sufficient for a month !! I would say!) Wisdom prevailed over greed and she always bought 1 kg.

I used to pay great attention to all the details of pickling, so much so that my Dad would often comment, " if you paid half as much attention to your books, you would top the school", as always, I ignored him and continued to concentrate 100% on the pickling process!

I could hardly wait for even 2 days till the pickle would marinate and was ready to be eaten!

Indeed one night ( this was when I was in the 4th. grade) I sneaked into the kitchen , quickly opened the jar of pickle and helped myself to a generous helping and sneaked back to my room to eat it. I finished the whole thing, licked all around the bowl and satisfied at having done what I was longing to do and also thinking that it would go unnoticed, I slept ... only to wake up groaning like the dickens..... something had exploded in my tummy... probably a bomb... and with guilt and agony written on my face I went to Mom..

I got no punishment... my parents said I got less than what I deserved and let the matter rest... needless to say, I never made that mistake again!

Now.. I do wait for 2 days as instructed, but on the third day... woe betide anyone who crosses paths with me when I make a beeline towards the pickle jar!!!

It's been a year since I had home made pickle.. I was longing for it.... feeling sad that here I would not be able to get Ma-ke-haath-ka-achaar... when Mom once again comes to the rescue!!!

My neighbour is visiting her son in L.A and Mom sent a packet of pickle mix along with her, explaining that the mix is closest to 'home made taste' and making a pickle with this was EASY and QUICK!!!

I took

1 Big Raw Mango

5 Tbsp. of the Pickle mix

100 gms . Salt

Oil (enough to drown the pickle in it... I know, I know!!)

Step 1 : Wash and wipe the raw mango. Ensure that it is ABSOLUTELY DRY. also ensure that your mouth is tightly shut... in case you are drooling ;)

Chop it into cubes, like so..

Then in a DRY plate, mix the pickle mix and salt with the chopped raw mangoTransfer it to the DRY bottle and add oil

Let this 'sit'/ marinate for 2 days. make a 'takda'/ tempering

Oil, 1tsp Mustard seeds and 1/4 tsp. Asafetida and let it cool completely. After the 'tadka' has cooled down, add to the pickle, mix thoroughly and enjoy with your meals!! ( will add those pics later)

Sending this as my entryfor Q to Nupurs A-Z of Veges .....

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