Amti Bhat, Poli Bhaji

The dishes both my children love when it comes to home food, prepared by me.

My daughter I remember 30 yrs back, born to me when I was  around 22. A cute little red cheeked bundle of joy. Nurses called her Goli. We called her rasmalai. She started growing and with her I too started learning and enjoying my  first new phase, that of motherhood.

She is an extremely talkative and hyperactive person. If I would say I am not talking to you, no problem, she would talk to the plates, glasses, cupboards, anything she thought  that was listening to her. At school there was only one complaint about her, that she talks a lot. I had no answer to this, but only a smile on my face. Always surrounded by neighbours who never had enough of her.

Four years later, another sweet little chubby cheeked bundle of joy, my son was born, I was around 25 then, my second phase of motherhood. A little more mature, a little more experienced. A very diffent experience from the first, because bringing up a daughter and a son, it is very very different. We called him rasgulla because of his fair round cheeks. More learning and more experiences. He is a little quieter than my daughter, but very witty and sharp. Oneliners are like his second nature.

Quietly mischievious, upto something always. At school the complaint was that he is a quiet boy. He would ride the cycle the whole day, go for his cricket classes. Very much interested in sports and other activities. He has a short temper too. When he coud not even speak, but wanted to show anger, he would bang his head on the ground.

 

So many memories, I could write a book and bore you readers for a lifetime. Now both are big and in their own world. My third phase of learning has begun. Now I am busy asking them questions like they asked me at one time. How do I use the mobile, the internet, WhatsApp, the various sites, how do I start a blog and what not!!! Phew!! They get fed up, the tables have turned on me or them I am not sure!! They taught me everything and that is how I am here, with my food blog.Thanks to both of them.

But anyway, now they have tasted all kinds of cuisines, from all over the globe, but I vouch for the fact that this is comfort food for them anyday ,anytime.

So here come the recipes.

For the Amti which means dal or lentils wth sweet sour taste.

This actually is regularly made in most homes in Maharastra and Karnataka.

Ingredients

1 cup split pigeon pea (toor dal)  pressure cooked with one small tomato two slits in between, one radish chopped into roundels, a pinch of asafoetida, a small spoon of turmeric, a small twig of curry leaves (as shown in the pic)

1/4 cup tamarind pulp

2 spoons of grated jaggery

1/2 tspoon chilli powder

1 spoon saar masala

salt to taste

Method

Take a  deep bottomed vessel, add little oil, mustard seeds, let them splutter, add asafoetida and turmeric(small spoons), add the dal, salt, chilli powder, saar masala, jaggery, tamarind paste and add water according to your desired consistency. Let it boil well with all the spices, the taste of the radish already enhances the flavour of the dal since it boils with it. Once it boils well, add chopped coriander for garnishng and serve with a dash of clarified butter  (ghee) and steamed rice.

Cabbage Bhaji

Ingredients

200 gms of cabbage chopped into fine julliens

2/3 green chillies chopped

Salt to taste

1 tspoon sugar

Chopped coriander for garnishing

2 tspoons of oil, little mustard seeds, little asafoetida and turmeric powder for tempering

Method

Take little oil in a kadhai, add mustard seeds wait for them to splutter, add asafoetida and turmeric powder, add green chillies. Now add the chopped cabbage, salt, sugar and 1/4 cup water, cover and cook, check in between while stirring and add water if required. See that it does not burn and retains the yellow colour. Once cooked, garnish with chopped coriander and serve with hot phulkas.

Idli Sambar and Chutney

My husband's favourite. He is not my husband, no no don't mistake me, what I mean is that, he is more than a husband to me. I came to his house from Bangalore, not as big a city as Mumbai. I was a very young girl,  just out of college, too enthusiastic, noisy, naughty and mischievous. He was always very sober, controlled and too soft by nature. He would wonder how I could laugh and giggle over small things! I remember my father told him only once just after we got married, not to leave me alone anywhere, since my father was too protective by nature. So much so that when I would be little late from college than normal, he would make both my brothers run all over the place to look for me. So the instruction to my husband. Till date he sees to it that as far as possible I am not alone, except at times when there is no choice! He has pampered me all the 33 years of married life and it still continues. So you see sometimes it is my duty also to make something of his choice. He hardly demands anything anyway. Philosopher, guide and above all, my bestest friend. He is the one who can pamper me and straighten me also when necessary!!

Here comes the recipe of The Idli Sambar and the Chutney. Sounds  more like a title of a film!

Method for Idlis

Proportion is 1 is to 3, one cup udad dal a handful of thin beaten rice and three cups idli ravaSoak one cup udad dal and the beaten rice for abt 3-4 hours in the afternoon and grind it to a fine paste, keep it to ferment overnight.At the same time wash three cups of idli rava and drain out all the water, keep it also overnight.Next morning mix the groud udad dal and the idli rava, add salt to taste and little soda so the idlis become soft and fluffy.Steam the idlis for abt 7-10 mins, they are ready to eat.

Method for Sambar
One cup toor dal, while pressure cooking this add little turmeric pdr, a pinch of asefoetida and also some curry leaves, adding vegetables of ur choice is optionalRoast 3 red chillies, 1/4 teaspoon of fenugreek seeds,1/2 cup fesh scraped coconut,1 teaspoon of cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon of corriander seeds, 7-8 peppercorns and grind all this to a fine mix.Take a kadhai with some oi lcrackle some mustard seeds add asefoetida, turmeric pdr, then add 2 onions cut into thin long pieces, saute it pink add the ground masala, cut one medium tomato into small pieces and add it cooking all this together till it changes colour and leaves the sides, add the boiled tur dal, bring it to a boil adding salt and 2- 3 spoons of tamarind paste, add finely chopped corriander leaves and sarve hot.

The Coconut ChutneyGrind together half scraped fresh coconut, some corriander leaves, some green chillies, little ginger, 3- 4 teaspoons of daaliya (fried gram or we call it phutana), squeeze lime and add salt as per taste, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, u can add water to grind the mixture according to the consistancy required, remove the chutney in a vessel. Make a tempering in a small kadhai with little oil, splutter some mustard seeds some add some asefoetida and a teaspoon ofudad dal make it pink and then add few pieces of dry red chilli and some curry leaves, pour this over the chutney.