Dabeli

Ever since my mother made this yummy recipe, I had been dying to try making it too. The creaminess of the potatoes is complemented well by the crunchiness of the peanuts and nylon sev. The tamarind paste adds a tang to the zesty red chilli powder and pomegranate adds a wonderful dash of colour with juicy sweetness. The humble dabeli can be made fairly quickly, which is perfect for people who are short on time but want to make and eat something really textured and layered.

Reduce the red chilli powder quantity and you have a recipe that becomes an instant hit with the kids too.

Ingredients
6 pavs (or buns)
3 medium sized potatoes
1 tbsp oil
Butter
2 medium onions finely chopped
1 medium onion finely chopped, for garnish
1 medium tomato finely chopped
2 tsp Kutcchi Dabeli masala
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp tamarind paste (or lemon juice)
2 tbsp sugar
Masala peanuts
Pomegranate seeds
Salt to taste
Nylon sev
Finely chopped coriander, to garnish


Wash the potatoes and boil till they become really soft. You should be able to mash them easily into a thick paste without lumps.

Heat the oil in a pan, and add a little butter. Add the chopped onions and fry till they turn soft and golden brown. Now add the dabeli masala, and fry for one more minute. Add the tomatoes and saute them till they become very soft and mushy. Mash them as much as possible. Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt, sugar, and tamarind paste and mix well. Finally add the mashed potatoes and mix it all together.

The dabeli filling is now ready.

To serve, slit a pav horizontally, and scoop some filling into it. Top it with sev, onions, peanuts and pomegranate seeds. Heat a little butter in a frying pan, and place the pav on it. Roast it on both sides for half a minute, and serve garnished with coriander.

Happy Cooking!

Soya Keema

Alrightie... this post comes after a long, really long time. No excuses, I was just lazy enough to not try new things and post them here. The pregnancy and delivery should not be blamed.

Last night, I was craving my mom's chicken keema. She makes it so positively yummy! I decided to make the same with soya keema, to see if the recipe works. It did. It tasted good, not as great as my mom's but close enough.

Ingredients

• Soya keema (minced soya)
• 2 medium onions finely chopped
• 2 medium tomatoes finely chopped
• 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 tbsp oil
• 4 cloves
• 4 pepper corns
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 badi elaichi
• 4 small elaichi
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 sachet of maggi magic masala (optional)
• salt to taste

Prepare the soya keema according to instructions of the manufacturer. Drain and keep it aside.

Heat the oil and add the cloves and pepper corns. Once they have roasted, remove them. Now add the badi elaichi, small elaichi, and bay leaf. When they are roasted, add the ginger garlic paste and chopped onions.

Fry for three to four minutes on a medium flame. Now add all the dry spices, tomatoes and salt. Add half a cup of water and bring the curry to a boil. Lower the heat, cover with a lid, and allow to simmer for five more minutes.

Serve hot with chapati, or paranthas.

Happy Cooking!

Kismur - Goan dried prawns salad

This is one Goan speciality that my husband can have everyday. Dried fish is not something everyone can stomach. The smell especially. What to fish eaters is an aroma of ambrosia, to non fish-eaters can be a vomit inducing stink. (I know people who feel that way about regular fish too)

It is really simple and quick to make. One of those recipes that upon touching your taste buds, take your mind on a flight to the delightful, salty, windy seashores of Goa. Watching a sunset at the beach, sipping on a chilled beer, and eating kismur with a spoon! Such are the delights of a simple life :-)

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried prawns, cleaned (you must remove the heads of the dried prawns)
• 1 large onion, preferably red onion, finely chopped
• 1 large cup fresh grated coconut
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/4th tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp tamarind paste
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp oil.

Heat the oil and add the prawns. Roast them till your whole house smells like the seashore. Let them brown evenly and allow them to cool.

Add the onion, coconut, dry spices, salt and tamarind paste and mix well using your hands. Crush the prawns with your fingers as much as possible.

Serve cold as a starter or as an accompaniment to fish curry and rice.

Happy Cooking!

Lasun (Garlic) Dry Chutney

My husband has been pestering me to make this chutney for a while now. Although freely available in the market, he wanted home-made chutney. I have been putting off making this chutney only because I really don't like the process of grating the dry coconut. It's a daunting and really slow task.

Today I finally made it, and he is one happy bloke. Thanks to Sahana for the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 half dry coconut (sukka khobra)
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds (I always prefer the unpolished variety)
• 5 dry red chillies (or more if you like it hot)
• 15 to 20 smallish pods of garlic
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder (for the lovely red color)
• salt to taste

Dry roast the dry coconut, sesame seeds and red chillies separately. Keep stirring to avoid burning.

Heat the oil and add the garlic and roast till the pods turn slightly brown.

Dry grind them along with Kashmiri red chilli powder and salt. 

Serve with a little oil, as an accompaniment to paranthas, or jowar or bajra bhakri.

Happy Cooking!

Spinach and Garlic Raita

These days I am always tired. I yearn for recipes that I can make in a jiffy, and are yet tasty and mouthwatering. This is one recipe I made last night which was made in practically ten minutes from the start to finish and was wiped off the wok by my hubby.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch spinach leaves
• 2 tbsp ghee
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 7 to 8 small garlic cloves
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 cup yoghurt (dahi)
• salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp chat masala powder

Wash and de-stem the spinach leaves. Chop them into fine shreds and keep aside.

Heat the ghee in a wok, and add cumin seeds. Once the seeds begin changing color, throw in the garlic pods. Allow the garlic to turn brown and then add the spinach, coriander powder, and salt. Saute on high heat for two to three minutes.

Turn off the heat and allow the spinach mixture to cool down. Now add the yoghurt. Add chat masala to the raita.

Place it in a glass bowl and chill in the refrigerator. Serve chilled as an accompaniment to paranthas, or rice based recipes.

Happy Cooking!

Katachi Amti

This is generally made from the leftover puran (filling of the puran poli). I love its taste so much, that for years, mom has been saving some puran for the amti right from the beginning.

The taste is simply explosive. The sweetness of the puran, and the sour spiciness of the rest of the masala (which isn't much). The tempering of curry leaves and mustard seeds in ghee just adds to the overall flavor.

Ingredients

• 1 cup puran
• 2 tbsp coconut freshly grated
• 4 green chillies
• 1 small lemon sized ball of tamarind
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1/4th tsp mustard seeds
• 6 to 7 curry leaves
• 1 pinch hing (asafoetida)
• salt to taste

Grind the coconut, tamarind and chillies together. Mis them with the puran and add a little water (add the water drained from the chana dal while making puran as it gives extra taste)

Add salt, and bring the curry to a boil. Now heat the ghee and add mustard seeds. Once they begin spluttering, add curry leaves and one large pinch of hing.

 Mix well and serve hot!

Happy cooking!

Puran Poli

Come Holi, and it is time for Puran Poli! It is also a time for thandaai mixed with bhaang. That is definitely not on my agenda right now. Foodie I am, but  a junkie I am not.

I remember the last time my husband had bhaang. I was seven months pregnant, and it was the day before my 'Goad Bharaai'. As can be expected, I was very worried about him and my brother having bhang and making not just fools of themselves, but also putting their lives in danger (they were on a two-wheeler). But men will be men. Out of curiosity or simple case of over-confidence, they went ahead and had the bhaang. I don't know why they thought, that we wouldn't come to know. They reached home safe, thank God, but not before making a pitstop at a general store, and asking the poor shopkeeper to get them this and that, and half his shop, and then realizing that they had but 5 bucks in their pocket! Haha!

My husband spend the entire day laughing, even when I was furious. He laughed and laughed, till his eyes were ready to pop out of his head. I decided (and so did he, eventually, when the effect wore off) that we are staying away from bhaang forever.

But nothing can keep us away from Puran Poli! And katachi amti the way my mom makes it. So here comes the recipe of Puran Poli and the katachi amti follows in the next post.

Ingredients

• 1 cup channa dal
• 1 cup jaggery
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• 2 cups maida or plain flour
• one pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1/4th tsp turmeric powder (for that beautiful yellow color)

Pressure cook channa dal with ample of water. Allow it to cook for 4 to 5 whistles. Let it sit, till the cooker cools down. Then open the pressure cooker, and check the dal. It should be squishy between your thumb and forefinger. If it isn't, put it back in the pressure cooker for a whistle or two more.

Once it has cooked sufficiently, drain all the water from the cooked dal. But do not discard the water. Save it for the amti.

Break the jaggery into small pieces, and put them in a kadhai. Add the drained channa dal. Cook over high flame. The jaggery will first melt and the mixture will once again become watery. Keep stirring till the mixture dries up. Allow the mixture to cool down. Put the channa dal mixture in a puran maker, and grind it into a fine paste. You may do this in a blender if you don't have the puran maker, but remember to not use any water, and the resulting mixture will still be pretty grainy.

Make a soft dough with the maida, water, salt and oil. Add a little turmeric powder if you like the yellow color, but it is entirely optional.

Keep the dough immersed in oil. (This is my mother's tip, it keeps the puran poli soft) Remove a portion of the dough and make a deep receptacle in it with your thumbs (read my modak recipe for the method) and place a small lemon sized ball of puran mixture in it. Seal the edges of the dough shut by pinching them together at the top.

Apply a little dry flour, and roll it into a thin chapati. Be careful, the puran tends to come out a little. If it does, do not hesitate to do a little patchwork, who's to know? Perfection takes both time and practice.

Roast it on a griddle (tawa) with a little ghee if you like. Serve hot with katachi amti.

Happy cooking!

Rajali Banana Bhaaji - Bananas in coconut gravy

Ever since I remember, I have loved this recipe. It is a typical GSB recipe, but I didn't find a mention of it anywhere on the net. All I could find was Rajali banana halwa.

Rajali bananas are a specialty of Vasai. These long bananas are yellow when raw, and black spots appear on their skin when they are ripe. The ripe bananas are used for this recipe, as against raw bananas which are commonly used in gravies. Although the bananas used here are ripe, do not substitute the Rajali bananas with the regular green-skinned variety. They won't hold their form and the mass will be reduced to a gooey mess.

The ingredients are such that you can easily have this recipe for a vrat or a fasting day too. The taste is an amalgamation of flavors, sweetness of the bananas and coconut, combined with the sourness of tamarind and hot spiciness of the chillies. The cumin seeds add a spicy quotient to this lovely recipe.

I am also posting a picture of Rajali bananas, so you can identify them when you see one.

Ingredients

• 3 ripe Rajali bananas
• 1/2 cup fresh grated coconut
• half small lemon sized ball of tamarind (imli)
• 4 to 5 green chillies
• 1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
• salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp ghee
• 1 tsp cumin seeds for tempering

Peel the bananas, and chop them into one inch sized pieces. Make a slit on one side of each piece.

Blend the coconut, tamarind, green chillies and 1 tsp cumin seeds to a thick mixture with little water, salt and sugar. Fill this mixture into the slit on the sides of the banana pieces.

Heat the ghee in a wok and add one tsp cumin seeds.  Now add the stuffed pieces of bananas into the ghee and the remaining coconut mixture. Toss quickly for one minute on high heat. Lower the heat and cover the wok with a lid. Allow the bananas to cook for 5 minutes on simmering heat, stirring frequently.

Serve hot with chapati (or by itself if being made for a fast)

Happy Cooking!

Mirchi Thecha

How I have been longing for a paata varvanta! Finally today I have what I have wanted for a really really long time. I know, it seems a little odd, that in the age of fast mixies and food processors, I am regressing into an era where masalas were ground on a stone. But having made this thecha on the stone, believe me, the difference is huge!

It does take longer to make it, and it definitely leaves you with hands burning for hours afterwards, and I sure do know why the mixies and food processors became such a rage, but the taste! Only a true foodie will know what I mean. I am more than willing to go that extra mile to make sure that my family gets only the best that I can offer. Even if it means I can't rub my eyes for some time.

Ingredients

• 7 to 8 green chillies (or more or less depending upon how hot you like it)
• 10 to 12 garlic pods
• 1 cup fresh coriander leaves
• 1 tsp rock salt

Wash the green chillies and keep the stalks. Roast the green chillies directly on a flame till black spots appear evenly on the skins. Remove the stalks and keep them aside.

Roast the garlic pods directly on the flame. This you can do by pricking the garlic pods with a fork and holding the fork over the flame. Let brown spots appear on the pods, then remove them aside.

Wash the coriander thoroughly. Grind them all together along with a little rock salt. Don't use too much water or the taste gets literally... watered down ;-)

The best result is by using the grinding stone. I ate two full jowar rotis with only the thecha! I can't stop gushing, but it was really worth it.

Happy Cooking!

Banana appe

Appés are small round fritters that are deep fried in a special tawa. This tawa has small depressions in it in which you can fry individual appés, this is what gives it their characteristic shape. I bought the appé tawa which I was coveting since a long time, just never got around to actually buying it. Finally the day I made it, they were all gone in just a couple of minutes.

Not just are they lusciously soft, but they carry that distinctly different sweetness of jaggery and banana. They taste best when eaten hot.

If you don't have the appé tawa, do not fret. Just deep fry it in the regular manner, just like you would do for bhajiyas.

Ingredients

• 2 cups uncooked rice
• 1/2 cup maida
• 1 banana
• 3/4th cup grated jaggery
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• oil for frying.

 Wash the rice thoroughly and soak it in sufficient quantity of water for two hours. After two hours drain the water completely.

Grind the rice with banana, jaggery and cardamom powder. Use very little water, but grind it as fine as possible.

To the ground mixture, add the maida and mix well. Pour a little oil in each well of the appé tawa. Spoon out the mixture into each well. Fill up only 3/4th of the well. (If you are using a regular wok, you don't have to worry about this. Just spoon out a portion into the oil)

Fry on both sides till golden brown.

Serve hot!

Happy Cooking!

Channa daal vada

I made this recipe some time ago, whilst in my search for new and healthy (and may I add, quick) breakfast recipes. Unfortunately I didn't click any pictures.

Ingredients

• 1 cup channa dal 
• 1 inch piece of ginger
• 3 to 4 green chillies
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• a pinch of  asafoetida (hing)
• salt to taste
• Oil for deep frying

Soak the chana daal for two hours. Grind the chana daal along with all the other ingredients and very little water. Do not grind to a fine paste, leave it a little gritty.

Heat the oil in a deep wok, and once it is sufficiently hot, add the ground mixture a little at a time. Fry till they turn evenly golden brown.

Serve hot with tomato ketchup or green chutney.

Happy Cooking!

Khandvi

A Gujarati breakfast or snack recipe, a supreme favorite and one which I thought was exceedingly difficult to make. I was surprised at its simplicity, once I got over my phobia of making it. I  did land up with a mess, and knowing the mechanics of the recipe now, I know I will succeed in reducing the mess in future. That sentence holds a hope of tomorrow, for I know for sure that this is not the last time I have made this recipe.

It needs the very basic few ingredients, which are found in every Indian household. It took me less than fifteen minutes to make these khandvis from the start to finish. I am going to recommend this recipe to everyone, because it is confounding, how you can take the same basic ingredients as for kadhi, gatte, or a variety of recipes and just alter the proportions a little bit to have an entirely new recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 cup besan (gram flour)
• 1 cup curd (dahi)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• a pinch of asafoetida (hing)
• water as required
• salt to taste

For tempering

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 3 green chillies chopped
• 10 to 12 curry leaves

Mix the curd,  besan, salt, hing, and turmeric and stir well to remove any lumps. Add water little by little till it comes to a dropping consistency. Pour in a deep kadhai and heat it over high flame till the mixture becomes thick and begins to leave the sides of the kadhai. Stir continuously. Once it begins leaving the sides of the kadhai, remove it from heat.

Pour it immediately on the back of a smooth steel plate. Smoothen it out with a spatula or a flat knife, into an evenly thin layer. You don't get it exactly right the first time around, so don't worry about the look.

Allow the layer to cool for two to three minutes. Now cut it into strips with a knife. Begin rolling from one end and slowly roll it all the way. If it is turning out to be a thick roll, divide the strips into two and then roll.

Heat the oil in a kadhai, and add the mustard seeds, chillies and curry leaves. Pour this tempering over the khandvi and serve hot with garma garam chai.

Happy cooking!