Aaloo Gobhi Magic

Cauliflower is one very frequently made curry at my place. That is what I mean by gobhi here. Once upon a time I used to think gobhi means cabbage as its so rhyming with the marathi name for cabbage -"kobi". So we are dealing with cauliflower here.
Gobhi parathas, gobhi in PavBhaji recipie,Gobhi manchurian,Gobhi kheema from Nags Blog, all are my favourite recipies. Health wise, what I read on wikipedia today is that "Cauliflower is low in fat, high in dietary fiber, folate, water and vitamin C, possessing a very high nutritional density".

So with enuff of the cauliflower talk let me now jump to the recipe.




Ingredients :
Cauliflower - chopped 2 cups
1 chopped onion (long slices or as you like)
1 chopped tomato
1 chopped Potato
Green peas
Curry leaves
Goda masala Sugar
Salt
Turmeric powder
Red Chilli Powder
Oil
Mustard Seeds


Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and currey leaves. Add chopped onions and fry them for a minute.
Add chopped Tomatoes. Let them cook till soft.
Add turmeric powder, 1 tea-spoon of goda masala, red chilli powder
After a minute add chopped cauliflower and chopped potatoes. Cook them covered for 5 mins.
Add Green peas (I ues frozen green peas which cook quickly, so I am adding them in the end)
Also add some salt, a tablespoon of sugar ,another tea spoon of goda masala and let the curry cook well.
Garnish with Chopped cilantro and shredded coconut as like. Squeeze some lemon juice to njoy the fresh aroma.
Serve warm with chapatti's.

The Cake I baked on My Birthday !

There are hundreds of varieties of cakes available to buy..but I thought it would be more fun to try to bake one.. I picked a simple recipe from Chakali Blog
This is a cake recipe which doesn't require any eggs and not too much of butter/oil. Eggless cake can be served to all my guests and no butter/oil makes it fit my choice immediately. Its "Ravyacha cake" and is made with curd(yoghurt),milk,sugar and rawa(soji) as the main ingredients. It can be decorated and flavoured with any dry fruits you like.

Shepu (Dill/Sowa)

Shepu also called as Dill/Sowa is a leafy vegetable and all leafy vegetables are my favourites. So here goes the easiest shepu curry recipe.



Ingredients :
A bunch of Dill leaves (Shepu gaddi)- sorted washed and chopped coarsely
3-4 green chillies-chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic- chopped
2 tablespoons of moong dal
mustard seeds
turmeric powder
Salt to taste
curry leaves


Wash and soak moong dal and leave aside.
Heat some oil in a pan
Add mustard seeds.
Add curry leaves, garlic and green chillies after the mustard seeds pop.
Add turmeric powder, salt to taste after a minute
Add the soaked moong dal. Do not add any excess water from this dal.
Finally add chopped dill leaves and cook for around 5 mins.

Quick dry shepu curry is ready to be served with chapatis :)

Apple Carving

Yesterday I came across an amazing fruit carving video. I was so excited about the art that I just couldnt stop myself from trying out some of it myself. I pulled out an apple from the refrigerator and started off with whatever knife I had in the house.



Check out the original video above for the wonderfull fruit carving. With some practice and the right tools, may be some day you and me will get the hang of it too.

Cabbage Potato Curry

Cabbage used to be another regular vegetable in our meals. "Its good for eyes" my mother used to say and I never liked it as a child. Now that I am controlling the kitchen, I remember all those mothers tips and try to cook a good variety of vegetables with various nutrient values.

Here goes the cabbage recipe that I made last week.


Ingredients :

Chopped cabbage
3-4 chopped green chillies
1 sliced/ chopped potato
Green peas
oil
mustard seeds
turmeric powder
salt
sugar
curry leaves
cilantro


1> Heat some oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds to the hot oil.
2> After mustard seeds have popped, add curry leaves, chopped green chillies and turmeric powder. Add green Peas (Green peas should be cooked sperately in hot water till soft before adding here.)
3> Add chopped/ sliced potatoes and chopped cabbage and mix well
4> Add salt and sugar and steam the vegetable well till the cabbage and potatoes are soft.
5> Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with hot chapati's.

Pithale

I had tried making pithala earlier and it was really a mess. I din't try making it for a long time after that. However , I came across a blog where this recipe was posted and felt like trying it again and this time it did turn out great.

So this entry is specially for noting the mistakes that I made in my earlier attempt.


More or less followed the recipe from the
chakali blogspot
Pithale-Bhakri is a basic but very popular meal. ZuNka is another famous version of pithla. Pithla can be served with Rice and I even have it with chapatti as the picture shows, but if you want to enjoy the real fun of pithla then it should be served with bhakari (an Indian bread) and Onion Thecha (Spicy chutney made by mixing chopped onions, salt and chilli powder).

I have followed the recipe from above blog with few variations to adjust it to my taste.

Ingredients :
1/2 cup chickpeas Flour
1 medium Onion
3-4 Garlic Flakes (Optional)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, pinch of Asafoetida powder, 1 tsp Turmeric Powder, 3-4 curry leaves
2-3 dried red chilies (Indian)
4 tbsp curd (plain yoghurt)
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt to taste
Chopped cilantro for garnishing

Steps to make -
1> Mix the chickpeas flour (also called besan)in water to make a smooth batter without any clumps. Add some yoghurt and mix it well. Keep this mixture aside.
2> Heat some oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, red chillies, stir for few seconds
3> Add chopped onion, chopped garlic, turmeric power and cook the onions for a while
4> Add 2-3 cups of water to this mixture and let it boil.
5> When the water just starts boiling take the pan away from heat and add the besan mixture to it. Stir well so that no clumps are formed. Also add salt,sugar,red chilli powder while stirring or just before adding the besan mixture.
6> Put the pan back on heat and let it cook till the raw smell of besan goes away. Stir continously so that it is cooked evenly. Add water/curd if required based on the taste and consistency that you want.
7> Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro.


Important Tips :
The besan should be cooked properly to get the good taste.
THe besan should not form any clumps so that it is cooked evenly.

ChavaLi UsaL -(Black Eyed Beans Curry)

One of my favourite options for regular meals is chavLichi usal i.e. Black Eyed beans curry. This curry can be served with both Rice and Chapatti's. My mother makes it specially for me when I visit her.

Like most of my recipe's this recipe is also a mixture of the recipe followed by my mother and the recipe followed by my mother-in-law.



Ingredients

Black Eyed Beans
Chopped Onion
Chopped Tomato
Chopped Coriander
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tbsp Oil
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar
1 tbsp Goda Masala.


1> Soak the black eyed beans overnight or for at least 4 hours.
2> Pressure cook the black eyed beans
3> Heat some oil in a pan.Add mustard seeds and let them splutter
4> Add turmeric powder, chopped onions. Fry the Onions for few minutes
5> Add Chopped tomatoes and continue cooking till tomatoes start leaving the skin.
6> Mash the cooked beans a bit and add them to above pan.
7> Add the remaining spices and boil the curry for 5 minutes.
8> Garnish with fresh shredded cilantro/coriander

Gawar Sabji (Cluster beans)

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Gawar subji is a regular item in Maharasthrian meals. It is one of the items contributing to a complete homely meal. I found some fresh gawar in the nearby Indian store last week and couldn,t just resist to buy it.

Making a gawar subji includes one very important step - sorting out the gawar. As long as I was in India I had only seen my mother or my mother-in-law do this part. But it,s only yesterday that I realised how tiring it can be. However, keeping up the enthuisiasm, I spent around an hour plus few mins and sorted out the gawar.

Rest process of cooking it, now seems simple. Check it out as below :

Ingredients:

300 gms of sorted Cluster beans (Gawar)
Chopped Onion
Chopped tomatoes
Roasted and crushed Peanuts. Simply "ShengadaNyacha koot" as we say in marathi
Salt
Sugar
Red Chilli powder
Mustard Seeds
Goda Masala (widely used in maharashtrain cooking) I have been lucky to have some
home made Goda masala from my aunt. A packet would also be available at any indian
grocery store.
Cilantro, Fresh Shredded Coconut

1>Heat Some Oil in a pan (kadhai)
2>Add mustard seeds to the hot oil
3>Add tumrmeric powder after spluttering of mustered seeds.
4>Add chopped onions. Fry for a while till onions become translucent.
5>Add chopped tomatoes. Let them cook till they start leaving the skin.
6> Add chopped cluster beans.
7> After 2-3 mins add salt,sugar,red chilli powder and goDa masala, roasted powdered peanuts.
8> Sprinkle some water if needed and cook closed for till the cluster beans are soft.
9> Garnish with fresh shredded coconut and chopped cilantro and serve with fresh hot chpatti's


Note : Sugar and be replaced by jaggerry for a healthier dish.

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Veggie Masala Rice - Biriyani Style!

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I made some biriyani style masala rice last night. I followed my own verion of the recipe, which is not exactly the veggie biriyani, but somewhat like it..hence the name veggie masala rice.



Ingredients

Vegetables - Onions,Tomatoes and at least 2 of the vegetables from - potatoes,cauliflower,green peas,carrots,capsicum. I leave the selection of vegetables flexible to adjust as per availability and as per your liking.
Spices - Turmeric powder,Salt,Red Chilli powder,Cumin seeds,Cumin powder,Coriander powder,garam masala,giner garlic paste.
Rice - 2 cups.

Steps ->
1. Cook rice in an electric cooker with salt and water as you would cook the usual steamed rice.
2. Heat Oil in a pan. Add some cumin seeds. Add chopped onions after the cumin seeds turn white. Let the onion fry for a while. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute. Add the remaining vegetables chopped finely (except for tomatos) and let them cook for a while. Whn vegetables have started becoming soft, add choped tomatoes and all the remaining spices. Let this vegetable cook well in the closed vessel.
3. Take a big vessel and apply some oil to its base and sides. Spread a thin layer of above veggie mix at the base. Then put a thin layer of rice. Another layer of veggie and so on. I had total 3 layers each of veggie and rice. Steam this mixture without stirring on low heat for 5 mins.
4. While serving put the serviing spoon vertically into the vessel to make sure you serve a good balance of rice and veggie.
5. Garnish with chopped coriander and some green chutney as you like. Curd would also be nice to have with this rice.

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Perfect Mixer/Chopper for Indian Cooking

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Many of us get a mixer from India, looking forward to relish the same indian taste while in US. In case you haven't got it, here is the perfect mixer/chopper for Indian cooking -->Click Here For detail product info



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Sabudana Khichadi

Sabudana khichaDi is commonly prepared meal during fasting in Maharashtra. Often accompanied by a tangy peanut chutney.

Ingredients :
Sabudana (Sago)2 cups
1 big Potato
Green Chillies
Roasted chopped peanuts
cumin seeds ,Ghee/Oil ,Salt
Green Chillies ,Cilantro.
Soak Sabudana in water for 4-5 hours. Use water just to drown all the sabudaNa.
After soaking sabudana should puff and become soft but should not sticky. Add some chopped peanuts and salt to it and mix well.

Heat some oil or ghee in a pan. Add cumin seeds to the hot oil. Add green chillien and chopped potatoes into it. (Chop Potatoes into small pieces so that they cook well.) Steam the potatoes tossing intermittently till the potatoes are almost cooked.
Now add the sabudana mixture and mix well. Steam the sabudana by stirring intermittently. Garnish with chopped cilantro,lemon juice and shredded fresh coconut.

A green chutney can accompany this dish to make a yummy combo.
For this chutney, chop together roasted peanut powder,curd,green chillies,salt,little sugar to taste,cilantro,cumin seeds.

Methi Paratha -(Thepla)

Methi Thepla - with Onion chutney



Ingredients :

Fresh Fenugreek (Methi)
Wheat flour
Cumin seeds
Salt
Coriander powder
Garam masala
Garlic cloves
Green Chillies
Ginger (half inch piece)
Fresh green cilantro/coriander
Tamarind juice


For theplas, I mixed most of the above ingredients into the wheat flour while making the dough. I keep a ginger-garlic-chilli-coriander paste ready at home, so that it can be readily used in various dishes. For this paste, chop the above four ingredients in a mixer/chopper. You may have to add a little water for getting the right consistency. We need around 1-1/2 table spoons of thick paste for our recipie.

Getting the methi ready - Chop fresh Methi (fenugreek) leaves roughly (No need to chop them finely.) Heat some oil in a small pan. Add mustard seeds. Once these seeds start popping, add chopped green chillies and chopped garlic cloves. Leave for half a minute. Add chopped methi and some salt to taste and let it cook for few minutes.

Making the Thepla dough -
Take the wheat flour in a big flat vessel so that its easy to knead the dough.
Add a pingh of salt and a spoonfull of vegetable oil. Add the giger-garlic-chilli-coriander paste. Add some garam masala and coriander powder. Methi could be added to this dough in various forms. I chose to cook Methi as above, which is then also mixed in this dough. Start mixing. kneading the dough. Add little water/ oil to make nice soft dough which should not stick to your hands.
Make small balls from this dough. Roll them into flat theplas and roast them on a flat pan (Tawa).

Serve hot with butter/curd and onion chutney as below.

Onion Chutney -
Chop a big onion in 1 inch pieces and put them in the chopper. Add some cumin seeds and salt to taste. Add some chopped cilantro and green chillies. Add a little water only if the chopper needs it. Add some tamarind juice. Chop the above into a yummy onion chutney.

Note : tamarind juice can be replaced by chopped raw mangoes.

Generally Thepla would be mild and the chutney should be spicy. Chilli quantities can be chosen accordingly.

Methi Malai Mutter

The recipe I followed



I just followed the recipe listed at above link. Just thought of sharing how my preparation came up.

daDpe pohe

Another quick snacks dish to please your taste buds



Ingredients :
4 Cups Thin Pohe
2 Tomato chopped
1 big Onion Chopped
3/4 Green Chillies chopped
1 String Curry Leaves
1 Table spoon Roasted peanuts
Cilantro/Coriander (chopped for granishing)
Sugar,Salt ,Red Chilli powder (each around 1/2 teaspoon as per taste)
Hing

1>Take 4 cups of thin pohe in a vessel
2>Chop Onions and tomatoes one after the other and spread over the pohe
3> Sprinkle Salt ,Sugar , Red chilli power on pohe and leave it aside
4> Tadka -> Heat oil in a small pot. Add mustard seeds once the oil is heated.
Add curry leaves,green chillies,tumeric powder,roasted peanuts and hing once the
mutard seeds have popped. Remove from heat before any of these starts burning
5> Use a spoon to spread the tadka over the pohe. Mix this well by hand and leave
aside for 5-10 mins - This process is called "daDapNe" in marathi. Hence the name
"daDpe pohe"
6> Garnish with lemon juice and chopped corainder.



Note: Can also use fresh shredded coconut for garnishing.

Susheela - A solapuri dish for Snacks

After my marriage a I entered a joint family with my in-laws. Being a working woman and not being used to cooking, I joined my mother-in-law and sister-in-law in the kitchen as a learner. While exploring the Maharastrian cuisine with them, I came across a new way to serve Churmuras. Till they told me about this dish, I had only known that churmura is the main ingredient for chaats/bhels and similar items or sometimes used for making chivDa.

"Susheela" is a quick breakfast /snacks dish - a Maharashtrian recipie which is quite uncommon on the internet !
This recipie is passed on to me by my mother-in-law. This is basically a dish from her native place Solapur - Maharashtra. It can be served as breakfast or as afternoon snacks with tea.

I am also sending this entry for a Contest




Ingrdients :

Churmure - puffed poha 4 cups
Green Chilli -4/5
Turmeric powder
Salt - to taste
Sugar - 1/2 tea spoon
Oil - 2 Table Spoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tea spoon
Curry leaves - 1 string
Hing -asafoetida - just little to sprinkle
Chopped Onions 1 big onion
Cilantro/coriander



The recipe is very similar to the Indian -Maharashtra snack PhodNiche pohe or more popularly known as Kande-Pohe..

Step 1 - Soak the Churmure in water and drain the water immediately. Leave them aside
Step 2 - Chop the Onions and green chillies.
Step 3 - Heat oil in a frying pan (Kadhai). Add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add Onions turmeric powder, hing, curry leaves and green chillies, soaked and crushed chana dal, slight sugar.
Step 4 - Once the Onions are sauté, add soaked churmure and mix well. Let it steam for a minute and susheela is ready to go. Garnish with fresh cut cilantro and lemon juice.

Note : Roasted Peanuts can be replaced by Pandharpuri ChaNe (aka phutane in marathi) if you like.

Incase Churmure is new to you --> This is how they look :