Batatavada..... 
Topped With  Kat Misal

Batatavada is the favourite of every Mumbaikar, a quick snack available at every nook and corner of the metro. All stratas of society would have definitely eaten this tongue tickler at some point of time, if the person denies, then he is not telling you the truth!! Just joking, anyway, there are variations to this dish too, like the vada tucked inside a pav with chutneys, it becomes the special vada pav. My husband likes the combination of vada with kat misal, the misal is a pulse curry, extremely spicy, eaten with every bite of the vada, mixed with mixed farsaan, some coriander and chopped onion with a dash of lime squeezed on it. Here goes the way I made the super spicy Usal for the Misal.....

Ingredients for the Misal

1 cup of  matki/turkish gram /moth beans sprouted and pressure cooked to 2 whistles

For the Gravy you need to grind all the ingredients to a smooth paste
8 cloves of garlic
3 cloves
1 piece of cinnamon
1/2 a spoon black pepper corns
4 green chillies
1 inch of ginger
2 chopped onions
1/2 cup of grated dry coconut
Few sprigs of coriander

Salt, lemon juice to be added later as per taste
Fresh coriander chopped for garnishing

Method

In a kadhai or a pan take some oil, add the ground paste, cook till the oil leaves the paste, add some salt, some lemon juice, the sprouted gram, add 3 cups of water, wait till it boils well, transfer into a serving bowl and make a platter as shown in my picture above. The second picture shows some mirchi bhaji which I love and made as an accompaniment. Now mix the mixed farsaan, chopped onion, coriander into the curry, your misal is ready and eat each vada morsel along with the misal. you have a choice of adding chopped chilli and a dash of lime while eating. 

                                                            Honey Chilli Baby Potatoes

Potatoes are an all time favourite of all. I am not too fond of them though unless the vegetable is the one eaten with pooris or the crisp sauteed type which is a common dish among Maharashtrians, the french fries which I love, specially the ones with herbs and truffle oil!! The baby potatoes made into a dry starter kind is what I enjoy. I have tried a new way of making them, sharing the same with all of you ......here goes the way I made them as an accompaniment with the Egg Schezwan Fried Rice. The dish gets a black and shiny, crisp texture and tastes awesome.

Ingredients

250 gms of baby potatoes, boiled, peeled and chopped into fours, squares to be precise
2 tbspns of soy sauce
10 cloves of garlic finely chopped
2 tspns of ginger crushed
1 tspn of white pepper pounded freshly
1 tspn of chilli powder or adjust as per taste
2 tspns of flour of corn (makki ka aata) used for makki di roti
Salt to be used sparingly since the soy sauce has enough amount of salt
2 tbspns of olive oil
1 tspn of honey

1/2 cup finely chopped coriander to be added two minutes before taking the dish off the fire

Method

In a pan take live oil, add garlic, saute till golden brown, add the ginger and saute, now add the potatoes, mix well, add the rest of the ingredients except the honey, once the potatoes look fully coated, add the honey and the coriander. Now wait till the flour of the corn is coated on all the potatoes and they start to look crisp. The dish is done and can be had a s a starter or to go with any Chinese preparation. We relish it with phulkas also.  

                             
                                                             Sol Kadhi Or Amsol Saar

Sol Kadi is comfort food for the summers. It is a tasty, tangy because of the Kokumin Hindi, Amsol in Marathi or Gracia Indica as it is referred to in English, nutty and creamy because of the coconut milk, chilled beverage which gives relief from the heat, prevents prickly heat, nausea and is so yum that it can be just had as an accompaniment in a meal. Amsol is a fruit which is dried, halved and sold for medicinal and culinary use. It gives a deep reddish purple colour and sour taste to the food in which it is added. The coconuts sent to me by my good friend Rachna, grown right in her backyard at Goa. I have extracted the milk from the freshly scraped coconut for this drink. Thanks to her for, I have been able to make a few curries, chutneys too with coconuts. The recipe is here.......

Ingredients

8-10 amsols to be boiled in two cups of water till all the sourness comes through in the water, rest it for sometime and strained

Milk extracted from 1 huge coconut, this is done by adding enough water into the scraped coconut, running it through a mixi jar, straining the extract through a strainer or a thin cloth. This should be done at least three to four times. The remain would be only dry tasteless scraped coconut.

Salt to taste
Asafoetida to taste
Cumin powder to taste

Method

In a jar take the coconut extract, the amsol extract, add all the dry powders and salt, mix well, chill and drink. The quantity above would make at least eight cups of the soothing drink.

 
                                                                  Tandoori Aloo My Style

Got very nice looking baby potatoes, couldn't stop myself from buying them. Came home and thought of what to make. I just boiled them and then started my process on an impulse. Here goes my impulsive recipe......

Ingredients

250 gms of boiled peeled baby potatoes
2 tspns of clarified butter
1 tspn of cumin powder
1/2 tspn of black pepper powder
1/2 tspn of chaat masala
2 tspns of ginger garlic chilli pounded roughly together
Salt to taste
2 tspns of thick yogurt
1/2 cup chopped coriander
Some clarified butter for drizzling over while putting the dish into the otg

Method

In a pan take 2 tspns of clarified butter add the potatoes, stir for a while, then add all the ingredients other than the yogurt, wait till the masalas get well mixed and change colour. Now add the yogurt and mix well to cook for some time. After this transfer them to the  otg tray laced with aluminium foil, preheat the oven for a bit before doing this. Keep on grill ode for about ten minutes or more depending on how crisp you would like the outer layer to be. Once crisp, the dish is ready to be evoured with your tea, coffee or as a starter before meals.

                             
                                                                 Idli With A Twist

The Idli here has some ingredients which made it very soft and tastier than the regular idlies. I would like all of you to try this variation. The three coloured peppers, carrots, home grown green chillies and some spinach all finely chopped. The main variation is the split bengal gram lentil soaked in the same quantity as the black gram lentil that is usually soaked and ground, a handful of beaten rice (poha) too. Now i will give you the detailed making of the dish with the ingredients. Don't miss the chilli flower and the plant behind.

Ingredients
The process should start one evening before you want to prepare the idlis

1)
To be soaked for three hours and ground to a fine paste and keep aside for fermentation overnight
1 cup of split bengal gram lentil (Chana dal)
1 cup split black gram lentil (Udad dal)
A handful of the thin variety of beaten rice (Patla poha)

2)
3 cups of idli rava which is available in the market needs to be washed well, drained and kept overnight

3)
Vegetables to be finely chopped are 
4 green chillies
5 spinach leaves
1/2 cup carrots
1/2 cup mixed bell peppers like red, yellow, green
This can be done the next morning, just before adding them to the idli mix

Method

Once the ground mixture is ready and fermented overnight, mix all the ingredients from 1), 2), 3) add salt as per taste and 1/2 tspn of edible soda. Adjust the consistency by adding water if required and make idlies in the idli vessel. Serve hot with chutney and sambar. A dash of  white butter melting away on the idli would take the taste to the next level. 

Could not resist posting the picture of the chilli flower from my tiny balcony.

                       
                                                                        Summer Salad

A very eye pleasing satiating salad, a summer special one. Has all the healthy, tasty ingredients, an easy to make dish.

Ingredients

1/2 a cup of chick peas soaked overnight, pressure cooked to 2 whistles with a pinch of edible soda and a pinch of salt. After draining the chick peas the water can be used in any soup or curry, so preserve it. I also make my dough with the water sometimes.

1/2 cup thin julliens of cabbage
1/4 cup thin julliens of red bell pepper
1/4 cup cucumber thin long pieces
1/4 cup tomatoes chopped into bite sized pieces
1/2 cup of spinach finely jullienned
1/2 cup of cottage cheese chopped into long thin pieces
4-5 olives roughly made into pieces
Olive oil, mixed herbs, apple cider vinegar, garlic powder, as per requirement
Cheese shavings can be used as an indulgent topping, I have skipped them since mine is a healthy salad

Method

In a mixing bowl take all the ingredients, add all the above ingredients, skip salt since there is salt in the chick peas and sometimes even the cottage cheese is salted. Mix everything well gently. Keep to rest for at least two hours. You can keep it at room temperature or in the fridge. Choice is yours. This makes for a good healthy mid time meal. 

               
                                                               Rabadi, Padwa Special

Anything to do with cream, butter, yogurt, I simply love!!  As a youngster, I would always pick up the whole layer of the thick cream  that formed on the milk, once my mum would heat the milk. My grand mum would churn the buttermilk and keep one blob of the yummy white butter reserved for me. She would make clarified butter and also make puran poli on the same day so we could dip it in ghee and eat it. My brothers called me Billi which means cat, always ready to pounce on the creamy stuff at home. True to my name I would scratch them with my long nails which were polished with nail paint. Those were the days........today after a long time as my son Nidhi wished to eat it, I made rabadi at home for the Padwa which happens to be our New Year. Recipe follows.....

Ingredients

1 litre of whole cream milk
Sugar as desired
8 strands of saffron
Powder of half a nutmeg

Method

In a wide bottomed pan take the milk,  add the saffron and the nutmeg powder, bring it to a boil, stir to mix the creamy layer that has formed without breaking it too much, this way when each layer forms you need to gently mix it and again let the next layer form. By the end of the process you get chunks of cream in every bite. Once you get the nearly desired thickness by reducing the milk, add sugar and wait till it mixes and melts and then again you need to boil it till it thickens with the sugar. this dish is enjoyed chilled or with hot hot puris.