Stuffed Pointed Gourd ( Parwar )

Ingredients

500 gms of pointed gourd, washed peeled and deseeded with a slit in between, lengthwise
1 cup dry grated coconut
6 dry red chillies
1/4 cup peanuts roasted and peeled
1/4 cup sesame seeds
2 tspoons of goda masala
Salt to taste
1/2 cup fresh coriander

 Method
Dry roast the sesame seeds, chillies and the coconut, put them in a mixi jar, add the oriander, salt, goda masala and the peanuts and make a fine powder. Now fill the gourds with the powder.  In a kadhai take little oil and put the stuffed gourds, sprinkle little salt, give it a sprinkle of water and then cook covered. If there is any ground masala remaining add that into the gourds too. See that the masala does not burn at the same time see that the gourds get cooked. Serve with phulkas or chapatis.

The super tasty, refreshing raw mango cooler

This raw mango cooler is available only during summer and tastes best when fresh and chilled. It is sold in all restaurants and eateries and you will find people with home made juice in coolers selling it on the road too. It does refresh  and enrgise you on a hot sunny day. 

Ingredients

2 raw mangoes washed, peeled and pressure cooked.
1/2 cup jaggery grated
1 small spoon of green cardamom powder
1 small spoon of nutmeg powder
1/4 tspoon of pepper powder
Salt to taste
A few strands of saffron

Method

In a big vessel remove the pulp of the mango, add the jaggery, cardamom powder, nutmeg powder, salt and pepper powder and mix well with the hand blender or all the ingredients can be made into a fine paste in a mixi jar too. Once done then add the required amount of water to bring it to a juice consistency. At last add a few strands of saffron and leave it to chill. The juice after a while will get infused with the colour and the taste of saffron. Serve chilled. 

  

Dal Methicha Varan, Curry Made of Split Pigeon Pea and Fenugreek Seeds

This again is a popular Maharashtrian dish, best eaten with  Jwarichi Bhakri.  This  bhakri is made of sorghum flour. To add an extra punch in your meal, serve it with some mirchi thecha, the very spicy green chilli chutney. I must mention here that I love eating it with plain rice too.

Ingredients

2 cups toor dal (split pigeon pea)
1/4 tspoon fenugreek seeds
4 green chillies
1/4 cup freshly scraped coconut
20 cloves of garlic
1 cup fresh chopped coriander

Method

Wash and drain water from the dal and keep ready.

In a mixi jar make a  paste of green chillies, a few fenugreek seeds, the coconut and some fresh coriander, 3-4 garlic cloves.

In a wide bottomed pan take some oil and make a tempering of mustard seeds, once they splutter add asefoetida, turmeric powder and the remaining fenugreek seeds, let the turn golden brown then add the dal, fry till lightly browned, ad water, about four cups nad let it cook covered, keep a watch on the dal and once it cooks almost 3/4 then add the ground paste, add water if needed, this is not to be too runny, neither to be too thick. Now add salt and cook till the dal cooks completely. 

To garnish you need to again make a tempering of oil, mustard seeds, asefoetida and turmeric, now add the remaining cloves of garlic in the oil and keep frying them till light brown and crisp, a little before they are done add 4 green chillies slit. Garnish the ready dal with this tempering just before serving to retain the crispiness of the garlic.

Thalipeeth

A very popular Maharashtrian breakfast or a snack dish.

This is made of flour made from roasting different grains and lentils and also a few spices. This flour can be made in large quantities and stored in a cool place so it can be used whenever required.

The flour is made of three cups of rice, one cup of whole wheat, 1 cup sorghum or jowar, 1/2 cup each of split bengal gram and split black gram, 1/4 cup cumin seeds, 1/4 cup coriander seeds, all roasted till they leave an aroma and ground  together to make a fine flour. 

 This is used to make the famous chakli and the vada eaten with chicken curry. The thalipeeth tastes best with a blob of home made white butter! Then you can also savour the thalipeeth and vada  with pickle, chutney, spiced green chillies and curd. The choice is yours.

Method

Take in a wide flat, vessel ( we call it paraat), two cups of the bhajni flour and mix salt, chilli powder, two onions chopped into small pieces, lots of fresh chopped corinader. Make it like we would make chapati dough. Make a equal sized balls and in a non stick pan, smear some oil, spread the dough ball like flat bread, make holes in the centre like in the picture, put little little oil in each hole, cook covered, flip when the aroma comes, see that one side is golden crisp brown, cook it the same way on the other side and serve hot.

Vangyache Kaap:

 A popular maharashtrian dish made with a big aubergine of the seedless variety.There is a variation made with potato too .We love it and hope you will too:):)


Ingredients


1 big seedless aubergine
2 big potatoes
1 cup bhajni atta( the mix of flours we use for making thalipeeth, if not available then use simple rice flour)
1 cup sabudana atta (tapioca pearls flour )
salt and chilli powder to taste
1t spoon corriander powder
1 t spoon cumin powder
1 big vessel of water mixed with salt and small spoon of asefoetida

Metod

Chop the aubergine and potatoes into thin roundels, put them in the vessel of water mixed with salt and asafoetida, let this rest for half an hour.
In the bhanji atta or rice atta mix enough salt, chilli powder coriander powder and mix well.
In the sabudana flour mix salt chilli powder cumin powder mix well.
Now take a non stick tava or a pan smear with oil, remove the aubergine pieces from the water and coat the rice flour mix or the bhajni mix well on it and keep each one on the tave to shallow fry. Keep covered keep checking and turn them and cook the other side also and keep oil as required. cook them till light brown and crisp on both the sides.
Do the same with potatoes except that you need to smear them with sabudana atta mix.
This dish tastes super as it is, ppl who like sauce can eat them with sauce of any variety.

Vegetable made of Carrot and Split Green Gram Lentil

Ingredients

3 Medium sized carrots, washed, cleaned and grated
3 green chillies chopped
1 cup split green gram lentil
Salt to taste
Coriander for garnishing

Method

In a kadhai take oil and make a tempering of mustard seeds, asafoetida and turmeric powder. Add the chillies, fry a bit, add the grated carrots, cook a bit, add the lentil, mix well add required amount of salt and 2 cups of water, mix well and cook covered. Keep stirring in between and add water if it goes dry, till the lentil is cooked to a soft texture. Should be moist when ready, neither dry nor watery. Remove in a serving bowl, garnish with fresh coriander and serve with phulkas. 

Colocasia, Alu in Marathi and Arbi in Hindi.

A delicious evening bite made with the bulbs of colocasia. The credit for this goes to a dear friend 
Rinky Rajdev. I tried making it and it turned out really yummy, so sharing with you since i have become a fan of this snack. I was so tempted to bring this home and have it, so throwing caution and calories to the wind, my taste buds ruled over the evening. Mmmmmm ..........slurrrrppppp....

250 gms of colocasia bulbs, washed and pressure cooked to two whistles only, peeled and chopped into fingers, ready to fry.

Salt to taste
Chilli powder to taste
Chat Masala or Black salt for sprinkling on top
Garnishing with coriander leaves is optional, I have skipped it.

Method

Wash and pressure cook the bulbs, peel them and chop them into fingers, fry them to anice crisp golden colour, remove in a serving bowl, add salt, chilli powder, mix well. Sprinkle black salt and savour with tea, coffee, juice, the choice is yours. 

                    Noodles With Eggs, Szechuan Sauce And Green Chillies Fried In Olive Oil 

Vegetable Noodles

Ingredients

2 packs of haaka veg noodles
100 gms of french beans cut into juliens
100 gms of carrots jullienned
100 gms of green peas
100 gms of capsicum
wash and cut the vegetables just before making so they absorb the salt while they cook
3-4 green chillies jullienned
1/2 teaspoon of ajinomoto
1/2 spoon black or white pepper powder
2 tablespoons of dark soya sauce
Salt to taste

Method

In a big kadhai heat oil saute the green chillies....put in all the cut vegetables....put little salt and if u find them dry just sprinkle some water...cook them covered till they change colour but let them not become soggy....alongside keep a big vessel of water with little salt and 2 tablespoons of oil, to boil, so much that contents of both packets will submerge, it has to be drained out so even if it is a little more it is fine....once the water boils put the noodles in the water, simmer and cook till done but do not overcook because they will stick together.keep checking and once done drain them in a sieve and pour cold water, to stop further cooking...keep it to drain for a while...now to the cooked vegetables add ajinomoto, some black pepper powder, the noodles and mix well and add the soya sauce....taste before adding salt since there is salt already in the veggies and also the noodles....mix well.
A useful suggestion would remove the veggies from the fire if they are done before the water boils and keep them back on the gas once u are ready to add the noodles and the other ingredients. I do not use the masala which comes along with the packets since i make my own version.

Now for the eggs

In a kadhai take some olive oil, break 4 eggs, add salt, pepper powder and keep to make a scramble, do not make the scramble into very small bits. Keep it as shown in the pic and ready to mix in the noodles.

For the Szechuan Sauce

Soak 6 dry red chillies in water for about an hour, put the mixture in the mixi jar, add salt, red pepper, salt to taste, 8 cloves of garlic, 1 inches of chopped ginger and make into a fine paste. In a kadhai take 2 spoons of olive oil, add i pack of tomato puree, sautr for a while and then add the ground paste, cook till it leaves the sides of the kadhai. Keep ready to mix in the noodles.

The chillies just need to be chopped crossways into medium sized pieces and fried in olive oil for topping if anybody likes it extra hot.

 Finally, mix the scrambled eggs, the szechuan sauce with the noodles and toss well to mix. Savour either as is or topped with the chilli.

 Vegetable Made Of Bread Fruit  ( Kachcha Phanas)

A vegetable dish I wanted to try for a long long time but did not know how to cook it. The other day I happened to notice it again and could not resist myself from buying it. Recipe courtesy, the vegetable vendor. I just had to say that I did not know how.......the vendor chopped it for me, told me how to make it, total detailed recipe!! Here goes the recipe, tasted nice with chapati.

Ingredients

1 bread fruit peeled and chopped into medium sized pieces and pressure cooked to 1 whistle only.
2 onions finely chopped
1/2 spoon of chilli powder
Salt to taste
1/2 cup fresh scraped coconut
1 spoon garam masala
1 small spoon of lime juice
Coriander leaves for garnishing
Oil, mustard seeds, turmeric powder and asafoetida and few curry leaves for tempering.

Method

In a kadhai, make the tempering add curry leaves, and add the chopped onion, saute to a light golden colour, add the  bread fruit, salt, the masala and the chilli powder, mix well, add the coconut, mix well cook for a bit garnish with chopped coriander, serve with hot chapatis. 

Ambeel (a summer energy drink) Grandma Special

This is a  tasty summer drink made with Ragi or nachni flour, an energy drink, it  is also nutritious and cooling. It can also be had with equal quantity of buttermilk.  It is made in Karnataka and parts of Maharashtra as well.  Come summer and huge vessel would  always be  kept ready in my house by my grandmother and we all relished the drink. 

Ingredients

4 tblspns of Ragi flour
A pinch of asefoetida
1 tspn cumin powder
Salt to taste
5 cups of water

Method

First take a vessel and keep 4 cups water add salt cumin powder and asafoetida and keep it to heat....meanwhile mix the ragi flour in the rest of the water see that there are no lumps...once the water heats, mix this in the vessel and stir continuously for a while and let it boil till the colour changes and the flour gets cooked. Then cool it and have it as it is or with buttermilk at anytime of the day. The consistency can be as u enjoy it.