Gobi Manchurian

Dry Gobi Manchurian (Cauliflower Manchurian) is a very popular North Indian dish. The Indo Chinese version of  manchurian generally tends to have a gravy base. This is served as a starter in Indian restaurants. I love the dry version of it and attempted to make it at home on several occasions, but I was never able to deliver it with restaurant style quality. Alas, my hubby made this dish and it turned out simply amazing. Here is his recipe for a restauarnt style Gobi Manchurian.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Cauliflower - 1

For the batter:

Corn Flour - 1/2 bowl

Corn starch - 1 tsp

Rice Flour - 3 tsp

Soy sauce - 2 tsp

Salt

Green Chillies - 2

For frying:

Oil - 2 cups

For the sauce:

Oil - 5 tsp

Ginger - 1 tsp (Chopped)

Garlic - 1/2 bulb (Chopped)

Onions - 1/2

Spring Onions - 2

Salt

Soy sauce - 3 tsp

Chilly Sauce - 3 tsp

Tomato ketchup - 3 tsp

Preparation:

1. Blanch the cauliflower for 10 mins. This process takes away the rawness and at the same time, does not make the cauliflower very soft. In addition, it also removes any worms that may be hiding in there.

2. Next step is to make the batter - Mix soy sauce, water, salt and green chillies to corn flour, rice flour and corn starch mixture and make it into a thick paste.

3. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. Dip the blanched cauliflower in the above paste and deep fry it until it becomes very crispy. To make a great manchurian, the fried cauliflower should be very crispy. Make sure you fry them for long to get this cruch on a low to medium flame.

4. In the meantime, start preparing the sauce. In a pan, heat oil, add ginger, garlic, onions, spring onions and salt. 

5. After the onions are cooked, add soy sauce, chilly sauce, tomato ketchup and mix it.

6. Add the fried cauliflower and toss it in the sauce.

Serve it hot as starters. It also tastes great with Chapathi - you can make a roll by stuffing the manchurian inside. It taste great!!

Egg Ambat

Konkani people love coconut. Almost any dish we make, we try to add coconut which adds a unique flavor to these dishes. Ambat is a konkani word for curry. The egg ambat which my mom makes is a tangy coconut gravy which is so flavorful that you can't seem to have enough of it. I have eaten egg curry at so many places, but this signature dish from my mom beats all. Here's a toast to this mouth watering recipe.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Egg - 7

Oil - 6 tsp

Coriander seeds - 1 tsp

Cloves - 3

Cinnamon stick - small piece

Bay leaf - 1

Black pepper - 4

Red Chilly - 4

Grated Coconut - 3/4 cup

Turmeric Powder - 0.5 tsp

Tamarind - a small piece

Onions - 1

Tomato - 1

Salt

Coriander leaves - for garnishing

Preparation:

1.) Boil 5 eggs and keep aside. Once they cool down, cut them into two pieces. We are going to use 2 raw eggs later in this dish to give a thick consistency to the curry.

2.) Heat oil in a pan, add coriander seeds, garam masala (I am using the raw spices since it gives very good flavor, but you can use ready made garam masala too if you have it too - cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, black pepper), red chillies and once it fries, reduce the flame and add grated coconut. 

3.) Next put turmeric powder and tamarind and grind it into a smooth paste with some water.

4.) In another pan, heat oil, fry onions, once they are translucent, add tomato and let it cook.

5.) Next add the grinded paste to the above mix, add some salt and bring it to boil until the bubbles start coming.

6.) Next add the 2 raw egg and stur continuously. This gives a very good taste to the curry and also thickens the curry.

7.) Put the boiled egg in the curry and garnish with coriander leaves.

Egg curry is ready to be served with rice or Chapathi.

White Randayi

My mom used to prepare white randayi (white coconut curry) with cucumber and ladies finger which I used to relish very much as a kid. I just loved the taste of those two vegetables when they were cooked in this rich and flavorful curry. Here's the recipe which I got from her and I hope you enjoy making it.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Cucumber - 2 (cut into big pieces)

Ladies finger - 6 (cut into medium pieces)

Salt 

Oil - 5 tsp

Coriander Seeds - 1 tsp

Fenugreek seeds - 12 seeds

Green chillies - 2

Cumin seeds - 0.5 tsp

Grated Coconut - 1 cup

Turmeric powder - 0.5 tsp

Tamarind - small piece

Rice - 2 tsp (soaked)

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 5

Red Chilly - 2

Hing - pinch

Preparation:

1.) Boil cucumber in 2cups of water. After sometime, add the ladies finger and let it boil well.

2.) Meanwhile, in a pan, heat oil, add coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, green chillies, cumin seeds, turmeric powder and tamarind and let it fry.

3.) Once the above mixture is fried, put the flame on low and add grated coconut. 

4.) Grind the above fried coconut mix into a paste with little water.

5.) Once the paste is almost done, add some soaked rice and grind it again.

6.) Mix this paste along with the boiled cucumber and let it cook well in this gravy. Let it cook till the bubbles start coming.

7.) Next add tadka to this. For tadka, heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, curry leaves, red chilly, hing and fenugreek seeds. Add this to the cucumber mix and stir well.

White Randayi is ready to be served with rice.

Patholi

Patholi is a traditional and unique recipe which is made in every Konkani household during festivals. We use turmeric leaves (haldi paan) for making this dish which gives  it a great aroma. The rice and coconut paste is spread on the haldi leaves and stuffed with jaggery and coconut mix. My mom used to make this for breakfast, but during Konkani festivals, this is generally served as a dessert.

If you do not have haldi leaves, you could also use banana leaves like I did in my dish. But then, since haldi leaves add a unique flavor & aroma to it, its best you use it if its available. 

Here is my mom's recipe of this great dish:

Recipe:

Ingredients:

For the outer spread:

Rice - 1 cup

Grated Coconut - 1 cup

Poha - 1/4 cup 

For the sweet stuffing (hoorn):

Grated Coconut - 3/4 cup

Jaggery - 1/2 cup

Cardamom - 2 (powder it)

Turmeric leaves - 10

Salt

For serving:

Pure Desi Ghee

Preparation:

For the outer spread:

1. Soak the rice overnight.

2. Next day, grind the soaked rice along with grated coconut and salt. The paste should be thick since we are going to spread it on a leaf, so add just sufficient amount of water that is required for grinding.

3. In the final round of grinding, mix poha and grind again into a smooth paste. Poha is added for softness. 

The outer paste is now ready. 

Next step - we will make the sweet coconut stuffing. This is called as hoorn in Konkani and is very delicious. (You need to make sure to finish making the patholi's as soon as the hoorn is ready else someone at house may end up eating only the hoorn and we end up with just the outer layer - just kidding. This often used to happen at my place where all of us used to attack the hoorn when we know its ready - yeah, believe me, its that yummy).

For the hoorn:

1. For the hoorn, take a pan, add grated coconut, jaggery, cardomom powder and keep mixing it on low-medium flame till it becomes a thick paste. If you have the hard jaggery cubes, like I did, then its best to melt it with some water in a microwave before adding it to the pan.

2. Once the mixture is thick enough, then turn off the flame and keep it aside. Let it cool down a bit.

The hoorn is now ready.

Now lets move on to making the patholi.

1. Take a haldi pan and spread it on a flat surface. I've used the banana leaf in my dish since I didn't find turmeric leaves here. And I used a chopping board to spread it since I didn't have a big taat (thali).

2. Spread the leaf with the rice and coconut paste first.

3. Next add the hoorn to the center and fold the leaf as shown it the pic below.

4. We will need to pressure cook these for 15-20 mins. For this, take some water in the pressure cooker, add a plate and stack these patoli's on that. Put the lid on and let it steam in low-medium flame.

5. Once it is pressure cooked, remove the leaf and serve it.

Patholi's are best eaten with dollops and dollops of pure ghee.

Karathe che Koshimbir

Bitter Gourd or Karela is called as Karathe in Konkani. Koshimbir is a Konkani and Marathi word for salad. So this dish literally translates to Bitter Gourd Salad. But don't get confused by the name- this salad in no way looks or tastes like the one you would normally have had. What I've seem to think of is that, in our cuisines, anything raw or partially raw side dishes are called koshimbir. At our home, we call a mix of all vegetables, salt and masala as koshimbir. In addition, if we mix vegetable in a coconut, onion, red chilly mix, then thats also called a Koshimbir. Karathe Koshimbir follows the latter recipe. This side dish goes very well with curd rice. You can also eat it with chapathi. Here's a delicious recipe from my mom-in-law. Hope you enjoy it.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Bitter Gourd - 2

Oil - 2 tsp

Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup

Onion - 1/2 (chopped)

Red chilly Powder - 2 tsp

Salt

Lemon juice - 2 tsp

Sugar - a pinch

Preparation:

1. Remove the outer skin of the bitter gourd and chop it into very small cubes.

2. Heat oil in a pan and fry the chopped bitter gourd.

3. In a container, add coconut, onion, red chilly powder, salt, lemon juice, a pinch of sugar and the fried bitter gourd and mix them with hand.

You can make this similar koshimbir with fried papad or with dry shrimps (my mom used to make this with dry shrimp during my childhood). For making with these, you can skip the lemon juice and sugar.

Shrikand

Shrikand is an Indian style flavoured yogurt which is very popular in Gujrati and Maharastrian cuisines. Poori with Shrikand is one of the very popular combinations. You can also eat Shrikand as a dessert. The credit for this dish goes to aayi and kaku.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Curd - 1.5 kg

Sugar - 1.25 cup

Cardamom - 4

Saffron - for flavor

Milk - 3 tsp

Nutmeg (Jaiphal) - very small piece

Muslin Cloth - to tie the curd

Preparation:

1. Tie the curd in a muslin cloth and hang it overnight so that the water comtent drips off.

2. Powder sugar, cardamom, jaiphal in a mixer and mix with the yogurt.

3. Mix saffron in milk and mix with the yogurt. Mix well.

Shrikand is ready to be served with poori or as a dessert.

Veg Curry puff

Making vegetable curry puff was always a mystery to me until recently when I was determined to learn it and get it right. Now it no longer feels like a rocket science. This is one of those very famous snacks that we used to crave for when we visited bakeries in India. And we never seemed to have enough of them. We find many versions of curry puffs with a variety of stuffings ranging from paneer to egg. Here is my version of this great snack with a potato & peas stuffing.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Potato - 2 

Onion - 1/2

Peas - 1/2 cup

Salt

Cumin Powder - 1 tsp

Coriander Powder - 2 tsp

Red chilly Powder - 2 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 0.5 tsp

Chaat Masala Powder - 1 tsp

Dry Mango (Amchur) Powder - 1 tsp

Puff Pastry Sheets / shells - 1 box (you can either buy this in store or make it fresh at home).

Preparation:

1. Boil potato in a pressure cooker. Once boiled, mash them and keep aside.

2. Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onions. 

3. Once the onions fry a bit, add peas and salt. 

4. After the peas are cooked a bit, add the masalas - cumin powder, coriander powder, red chilly powder, turmeric powder, chaat masala powder and amchur powder. Mix them well.

5. Then add the mashed potato to the mix. Mix it well and turn off the flame.

The mixture is now ready to be stuffed and baked to make veg puffs. I generally buy the puff pastry from grocery store - you can generally find it in the frozen section of the grocery store.

If you have puff pastry sheets:

1. Remove the puff pastry sheets from freezer and keep it in room temperature for sometime until its icy stiffness is gone (natural way of defrosting I say :-) )

2. Preheat the oven at 400 F for 10 mins.

3. Cut the puff pastry sheets into rectangles and once they are back to room temperature, you should be able to fold them easily and thats when you know the puffs are ready to be stuffed.

4. Once they are ready to be stuffed, place 1 spoon of the mixture on one side and then fold it. 

5. Place it in a oven friendly tray (we use aluminium trays) and let it bake for 25 mins.

If you have puff pastry shells:

1. Preheat the oven at 400 F for 10 mins

2. Once your remove puff pastry shells from the freezer, place them on a tray and bake them for 25 mins.

3. After that, remove the central portion with a fork and stuff you mixture in that and then place the center lid back.

4. Bake it for another 3 mins in the oven and they are ready.

This is best served with tomato ketchup.

Besan Laddoo

Besan Laddoo is a popular Indian dessert made during festivals in India especially during Diwali. Laddoo's are round shaped desserts that have a lot of variations and different flavors based on the ingredients used to prepare them. Besan laddoo is made from gram flour and is mixed with nuts which gives it a crunchy goodness. Thanks to my mom-in-law for this sweet and delectable dish.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Gram Flour (Besan) - 4 cup 

Sugar - 3 cup

Ghee - 1.5 cup

Rava - 1/4 cup

Cardamom - 2 (powdered)

Cashew/Almond pieces

This gives 36 laddoos.

Preparation:

1. In a pan, add 4 tsp of ghee. 

2. Fry besan and rava in the ghee.

3. Once it is frying, add the remaining ghee. Let it fry well until it becomes brownish in color. Then, keep it aside.

4. Once it cools down, add sugar and cardamom powder.

5. Mix the above really well by pressing the flour. You can partition the mixture and mix some at a time to ensure the whole mixture gels up together really well. This mixture needs to be very soft, hence this mixing step is really important.

6. Make round balls and add a cashew/almond piece in each ball to give it a surprise crunch.

You can also garnish it with some almond and cashew pieces on the top.

Notes:

- I had used a big coffee cup for measurements.

- I can't stress enough on how putting a lot of strength and pressure during mixing is an important step to getting soft laddoos. Hope you keep this in mind while preparing.

Tomato Chutney

I had tasted the tomato chutney for the first time at Meenakshi Temple and since then I was craving for it. I was lucky to get a chance again to relish this chutney during a visit to my friends place where her mom had prepared it and it was amazing. This time I made sure that I had the recipe written down. Thanks to Kavitha's mom and Kavitha for this wonderful dish.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Oil - 6 tsp

Red Chillies - 2

Tamarind - small piece

Onion - 1/2

Tomato - 1

Salt - to taste

Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp

Urad Dal - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 6

Preparation:

1. Heat 4 tsp of oil in a pan. 

2. Add red chillies and saute it.

3. Next add a small piece of tamarind.

4. Add onion and fry till it becomes slightly golden.

5. Add tomatos and salt and fry it for a few mins.

6. Once the above mixture cools down, grind it into a fine paste in a mixer.

7. For tadka, heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. 

8. Once it splutters, add urad dal and curry leaves.

9. Put this tadka to the grinded paste.

Tomato Chutney is ready to be eaten along with idly, dosa or vada.

Kolumbo

One of the specialities of my mom is Kolumbo. This curry goes well with rice, idli or dosa. I usually love mixing Kolumbo with rice and eat it with Pokoras, Ketchup & Onions on the side - one of the best combinations ever. Here is the recipe of this amazing dish.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Toor Dal - 1/2 cup (or 1.75 idli cup)

Vegetables (carrot, cauliflower, potato, beans, Ivy Gourd, eggplant, drumstick) - 1 of each type

Tomato - 2

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Oil - 10 tsp

Coriander Seeds - 3 tsp

Red Chillies - 6

Coconut - 0.5 cup

Tamarind - small piece

Salt - to taste

Chana Dal - 2 tsp

Urad Dal - 2 tap

Fenugreek seeds - 2 tsp

Peppercorn - 9

Cloves - 5

Cinnamon Stick - very small piece

Cumin Seeds - 2 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Hing - a pinch of hing

Coriander leaves - 0.5 cup

Curry leaves - 5 leaves

Preparation:

1. Soak toor dal in water for 20 mins.

2. Cut the vegetables into medium sized pieces.

3. Pressure cook the soaked dal along with carrot, cauliflower, potato, beans, Ivy Gourd, 0.5 tsp turmeric powder and 1 tsp oil for 2 whistles. Keep it aside.

4. In another pan, heat 4 tsp of oil, add coriander seeds and let it fry.

5. Add 5 red chillies, 0.5 tsp turmeric powder, tamarind, salt and coconut and turn off the gas. We use less coconut in this masala.

6. Grind the above fried masala along with water into a very coarse paste and keep aside.

7. In another pan, heat 3 tsp of oil, next add chana dal, urad dal, fenugreek seeds, peppercorns, cloves, small cinnamon stick, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and a pinch of hing.

8. Add the above fried mix to the coarse grinded paste and grind it further into a very fine paste. Keep it aside.

9. Separately boil tomato, drumstick and eggplant as they take less time to cook. Don't pressure cook it with the rest as it will melt off in the gravy.

10. In a pan, add the boiled tomato, drumstick and eggplant, add the fine masala that was grinded earlier, water and salt. At this step, if the dal is not cooked properly, then add it to this mixture. Else, if dal is properly cooked, then we can add it in the end once the masala cooks well. Bubbles will start appearing once the masala is cooked well.

11. Once the masala cooks, add dal (if not added earlier) and add coriander leaves.

12. For tadka, heat 2 tsp oil in a pan, add curry leaves, 1 red chillies, 0.5 tsp mustard seeds and a pinch of hing. Add the tadka to the above mix.

Kolumbo is ready to be served.

Peas Samosa

Samosa has evolved over the years in India and is made with a variety of stuffing other that the traditional potato ones. Here is one such recipe that my mom in law taught me. This one uses coriander leaves, peas and potato mixture for stuffing and tastes heavenly.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Garlic bulb - 1

Green Chillies - 6

Coriander leaves - 1 cup

Green Peas - 1 bowl

Potato - 4

Salt

Maida flour - 2 cup

Oil - 2 cups (for deep frying)

Water - for kneading

Preparation:

1. Boil potato & peas.

2. Grind garlic bulb, green chillies and coriander leaves together.

3. Grind boiled peas.

4. Grate the boiled potatoes or you can also mash it well. Make sure that there are no lumps.

5. Mix all the grinded pastes prepared in the above steps together and add salt. Mix it well and keep aside.

6. Take maida flour.

7. Heat 4 tsp of oil and add it to the maida flour. This will make the dough soft.

8. Add salt and water and knead it into a dough.

9. Take some dough and roll it into a small circle. Cut it in the center so that it looks like a semicircle. Make it into a cone shape and add the stuffing. Finally seal the base.

10. Deep fry the stuffed piece. 

Peas samosa is ready to be eaten.

Alambe Randayi

This mushroom curry is one of the amazing recipes that I learnt from my Mom. Alambe in Konkani means Mushroom and Randayi means Curry. While this can be best eaten with Urad Dosa or rice, you can also relish this dish with parotha or even Chapathi. Here's the recipe and I hope you enjoy it too.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Mushroom - 1 box

Water - 2 cups

Onion - 2

Salt

Oil - 5 tsp

Coriander Seeds - 2 tsp

Jira - 0.5 tsp

Red Chillies - 8

Coconut - 1 cup (if you are using frozen one that we get in US, then you can use half of the packet)

Turmeric Powder - 0.5 tsp

Tamarind - a small piece

Preparation:

1. Heat water in a pan.

2. When it comes to boil, add mushrooms and 1.5 onions and let it boil well.

3. Once it boils, add salt.

4. In the meantime while that is boiling, heat oil in a separate pan.

5. Add coriander seeds, very little jira, red chillies, coconut, turmeric powder, tamarind and fry it.

6. Grind the above into a fine paste.

7. Add this masala to the boiled mushroom & onion mix and let it cook well.

8. For tadka, heat oil in a pan, fry the remaining half onion and add it to the curry prepared in the above step.

Alambe Randayi is ready to be served with rice or urad dosa.

Shengha Chutney Pitto

Shenga Chutney Pitto is a dry peanut powder with a garlic flavor which is used as a side with many dishes like rice, dosa, roti, idli and on goes the list. This great dish was taught to me by my mom in law. Shengha in Konkani means peanuts and chutney pitto is a dry chutney powder. In other parts of South India, this is often referred to as podi.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Peanuts - 2 cup 

Garlic Bulb - 1

Coconut Powder - 1/2 cup

Red Chilly Powder - 6 tsp

Tamarind - small piece

Salt - to taste

Preparation:

1. Roast the peanuts in a pan. Peel the skin once it cools down. Keep aside.

2. In a pan, fry garlic and coconut powder. We use less coconut powder for this chutney powder and more during preparation of putani chutney powder.

3. Take it off the gas once the above fries and then add red chilly powder, tamarind and salt.

4. Mix the roasted peanuts and the fried contents and grind it into a dry powder.

Shengha Chutney Pitto is ready. This is usually made in huge quantities and stored to serve for many months together. This can be used as an alternative to chutney.

Valli bhajji Randayi

Valli bhajji is a type of spinach which we get very easily in South India. Valli bhajji is referred to as Malabar Spinach or Chinese Spinach in English. Bhajji in Konkani means leafy vegetable and Randayi means curry. Here is my mom's  recipe for this delicious dish.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Toor Dal - 1/2 cup 

Malabar Spinach/Chinese Spinach (Valli bhajji)- 2 bowls

Onion - 1

Water - 2 cups

Oil - 5 tsp

Coriander Seeds - 2 tsp

Cumin seeds - 0.5 tsp

Red Chillies - 8 

Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup

Tamarind - a small piece

Turmeric Powder - 0.5 tsp

Garlic bulb - 1

Preparation:

1. Wash toor dal and soak it in water for 20 mins.

2. Pressure cook the dal, malabar spinach and onion together with 2 cups of water for 2 whistles.

3. Heat oil in a pan, add coriander seeds, cumin seeds, tamarind, turmeric powder and red chillies and let it fry.

4. Next add the grated coconut once it is taken off the flame or on low flame.

5. Grind the above mix along with some water into a fine paste. 

6. In the boiled mix, add salt and the grinded paste and let it cook well until the bubbles start to appear.

7. For tadka, heat oil, add crushed garlic bulb and add it to the above mix. Again, make sure that it boils well.

Valli bhajji Randayi is ready to be served with rice. 

Karathe Kadam

Karathe is a Konkani word for Bitter Gourd/Karela. Karathe Kadam is a recipe in which the fried bitter gourd is cooked in a sweet & spicy sauce and the mixture is later fried on a tava. This dish gets its unique flavor from a spice called "Theppal" or "Sichuan Pepper" which is commonly used in Konkani, Nepali and Chinese cuisines.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Bitter Gourd - 1

Salt

Coconut - 1/8 th cup

Red Chillies - 10 (small)

Tamarind - a small piece

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Jaggery - 2 medium cubes

Sichuan Pepper/Theppal - 6

Preparation:

1.) Cut the bitter gourd into very small pieces, apply salt and keep aside for 10 mins.

2.) We use less coconut and more red chillies in this dish.

3.) Grind coconut, red chillies, salt, tamarind and turmeric powder.

4.) Mix jaggery and crushed Theppal (Sichuan Pepper) to the above paste. Mix well, the jaggery should dissolve completely in the paste.

5.) Drain the water from the Bitter Gourd and mix it in the paste.

6.) Heat oil in pan. Once the oil is heated, add the paste, put oil on top and let it fry really well. It should get a bit of smoky burnt flavor.

Karathe Kadam is ready to be served as a side with rice & Dalitoy.

Dabbu Mirchi Raita

Dabbu Mirchi is our marathi word for capsicum. The credit for this great recipe goes to my Mom in law. This Maharastrian dish has a tinge of sweetness and goes really well with either Puri or Chapathi. 

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Capsicum - 4 (Chopped)

Green chilly - 5 (Chopped)

Peanut - 3 tsp

White Til - 3 tsp

Grated coconut - 3/4 cup

Tamarind - small piece

Oil - 4 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Hing - a pinch

Fenugreek seeds - 4

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Jaggery - half cube (2 tsp - if grated)

Preparation:

1. Grind capsicum and green chilly together into a coase paste.

2. Fry peanut and keep aside to cool

3. Next fry white til and keep aside to cool.

4. Once peanut and white til cools, grind them together into a dry powder.

5. Grind grated coconut with small piece of tamarind and water to make it a pastr.

6. Next in a pan, heat oil.

7. Once the oil heats up, add mustard seeds. Once it splutters add Hing and fenugreek seeds.

8. After it turns a bit brown, put the capsicum-green chilly paste and let it cook well.

9. Once the capsicum is nicely cooked, add turmeric powder, coconut & tamarind paste, peanut-white til powder, salt and jaggery and mix well. Let it cook for a few more mins and then you have dabbu mirchi raita ready to be served.

Methi Puri

I'm not a big fan of methi, but when I tasted the puris made out of it by my mom in law, it tasted simply heavenly and now I'm all for methi. It's amazing how a well thought recipe can change the way you think about certain vegetables. Here is the recipe to this yummy dish. 

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Garlic - 4 cloves

Green Chillies - 6

Fenugreek leaves (Methi) - 2

Wheat flour - 2 cup

Gram Flour (Besan) - 1/4 cup

Rava -1/8 cup

Oil - 2 cups

Preparation:

1. Grind the garlic, green chillies and fenugreek leaves together into a paste.

2. Knead the dough by mixing wheat flour, gram flour, rava, the paste made above, heated oil and water. The heated oil is added to make the dough softer.

3. Heat oil for frying. Make round balls, roll into a circular shape and deep fry it.

Methi Puri can be eaten by itself or with a side of chutney powder.

Mashingasangha Pitli

This dish is a Konkani speciality that I learnt from my mom. It is generally served with rice as a side. In Konkani, drumsticks are called as Mashingasangh/ Maskasangh. The gravy is made of besan which gives it a thick consistency. It tastes somewhat similar to Zunka which is a Maharastrian dish.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Drumsticks - 2

Oil - 4 tsp

Urad Dal - 2 tsp

Mustard Seeds - 2 tsp

Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves

Hing

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Red Chilly Powder - 1 tsp

Salt

Gram Flour (Besan) - 1/4 cup

Preparation:

1.) Boil drumsticks. Retain the water since it has all the flavor. We will use this water for the gravy.

2.) Heat oil in a pan.

3.) Add Urad Dal and fry it.

4.) Next add mustard seeds and let it splutter.

5.) Add cumin seeds, curry leaves, hing, turmeric powder and red chilly powder.

6.) Add the boiled drumstick along with its water. 

7.) Let the mixture boil for few mins and then add salt.

8.) Mix gram flour with water and make sure there are no lumps. Then add that to the drumstick gravy and stir continously.

9.) Let it cook for few minutes.

Mashingasangha Pitli is ready to be served with rice.

Note: 

• You can optionally add coriander powder, cumin powder and amchur.
• You can boil the drumsticks along with the tadka.

Misal Pav

Recipe:

Ingredients:

For Matki Usal:

Moth Beans/Matki - 1 cup (soaked overnight till it sprouts)

Potato - 2 (small cubes)

Salt - to taste

Oil

Hing - a pinch

Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp

For Katt:

Oil - 1/2 cup

Garlic cloves - 5

Ginger -  a small piece

Black Pepper seeds - 4

Cinnamon - a small piece

Cloves - 4

Bay Leaf - 1

Cumin Powder - 1 tbsp

Coriander Powder - 1 tbsp

Onion - 1 (small cubes)

Tomato - 3 (chopped)

Salt - to taste

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Hing - a pinch

Red Chilly Powder - 5 tsp

Kokum - 3

For serving:

Buns/Pav

Mixture

Onion (chopped)

Lemon

Preparation:

For the Matki Usal:

1. Soak the moth beans (matki) overnight till it sprouts.

2. Pressure cook it with a pinch of salt.

3. Cut the potato into small cubes and fry it with a pinch of salt till it becomes very crispy. You can also deep fry it and sprinkle salt later.

4. Once the moth beans are cooked, keep it on stove for some time till the excess water evaporates.

5. Heat Oil in a pan, add hing and mustard seeds. 

6. Once the mustard seeds start spluttering, add turmeric powder. 

7. Once the excess water evaporates from the boiled sprouts, add it to this mix along with some salt and garam masala and let it cook on low flame for 2 mins.

8. Next add the crispy potatoes in it.

Matki Usal is now ready. 

This matki usal is supposed to be very blande. To add spicy and tangy flavors to it, we mix it with Katt which has a generous dose of red chilly powder and Kokum.

Let's move on to making the Katt.

For the Katt:

1. Make a paste of ginger, garlic, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf, cumin powder and coriander powder.

2. Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan, add the paste made above and saute it for some time till the aroma of spices comes through.

3. Add onion and salt, once it is slightly cooked, add tomato and cook well.

4. Next add grated coconut.

5. Once the mixture is cooked and the oil starts separting out, switch off the stove.

6. Once the mixture cools down, grind it till it becomes a fine paste.

7. Heat 12 tsp of oil in a pan, add turmeric powder, hing, red chilly powder, salt, kokum, grinded paste (prepared above) and some water. Mix well and let it come to a boil.

Katt is now ready.

For serving:

Take a bowl of matki usal. Based on your spice level, add required Katt to it. The more Katt you add, the more spicy your misal becomes. Next add chopped onions and squeeze lemon juice to it. Mix it well. Add mixture/sev and serve it with Pav.

Bhel Puri

Bhel Puri is a tangy and savoury chaat made with puffed rice. It seems to have been originated in Mumbai and is popular all over India. In Hindi, Bhel means a mixture and true to that, this snack has a mixture of sweet, spicy and tangy flavors all infused into it. Here is a version of how I made this at home.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Puffed Rice - 3 cups

Mixture - 1/2 cup

Potato - 1 (boiled & mashed)

Onion - 1/2 cup (chopped)

Tomato - 1/2 cup (chopped)

Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup

Tamarind Chutney - 1/4 cup (See Recipe)

Green Chutney - 4 tsp (See Recipe)

Red Chilly Powder - 1/2 tsp

Chaat Masala - 1/2 tsp

Preparation:

1.) Mix the puffed rice, mixture, mashed boiled potato, onion and tomato.

2.) Prepare tamarind chutney. Click for recipe.

3.) Prepare green chutney. Click for recipe.

4.) Mix the tamarind chutney and green chitney to the puffed rice mix, along with the red chilly powder and chaat masala.

5.) Garnish with sev or mixture.

Yummy Bhel is ready to be served.

Green Chutney for Chaat

Green Chutney is used in Chaat to give it a spicy and sour flavor. Here is the simple home made version of this.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Coriander leaves - 1 cup

Mint leaves - 7 leaves

Green chillies - 1 

Salt - to taste

Sugar - 1/2 tsp

Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Preparation:

1.) Grind coriander leaves, mint leaves, green chillies, salt and sugar together in a blender.

2.) Depending on your spice level, you can add more than one green chilly if you like.

3.) Squeeze lemon juice into the paste and mix well.

Spicy green chutney is ready to be used with chaat.

Tamarind Chutney for Chaat

Chaat is a combination of a multitude of flavors - tanginess, sweetness, sourness - all combined into one great dish. The tamarind chutney gives a tangy and sweet flavor, while the Green chutney gives a spicy and sour effect. Below is the recipe of the tamarind chutney which if mastered, will help you in making many types of chaats.

Recipe:
Ingredients:
Tamarind - small piece
Chaat Masala - 1 tsp
Water - 1 cup
Jaggery - a small cube
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Hing - to taste
Salt - to taste
Red Chilly Powder - 1/2 tsp

Preparation:

1. Soak tamarind in a cup of warm water.
2. Add jaggery, cumin seeds, hing, salt, red chilly powder and chaat masala.
3. Blend the above mix in a mixer.
4. To thicken the above liquid, heat it and stir it on medium flame.

Tangy Tamarind chutney is ready to be served with Chaat.

White Poha

White Poha is a very common breakfast side in Konkani Cuisine. My mom used to make either this or the Red Poha as side with the other main breakfast items. This poha has a tinge of sweetness and saltiness and is prepared by mixing poha with freshly grated coconut. This doesn't need the use of stove and is prepared simply by mixing the ingredients. Its a quick snack when you are hungry and have no time to cook.

Recipe: 

Ingredients:

Thin Poha/Nylon Poha - 1 cup

Green chilly - 1

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 2 tsp

Salt - 0.5 tsp

Preparation:

1. Take freshly grated coconut. You can use the defrosted frozen coconut too, if you don't have the fresh one.

2. Add sugar, salt and green chilly and mix well.

3. Add Thin poha (preferable) or nylon poha and mix it well.

White Poha is ready to be served. You can serve this with mixture or Chivda too.

Ivy Gourd Chutney

Tindora Chutney/ Ivy Gourd Chutney is a spicy and tangy Andhra style pachadi that I learnt from the Vah Chef. Using tindora this way was very new to me and I really loved it. It goes well with rice. Here is the recipe of the dish:

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Oil - 2 tsp

Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Tamarind - a small piece

Garlic - 4 cloves

Green chilly - 4 (Slit)

Tindora/Ivy gourd - 10 (cut into small rounds)

Salt - to taste

Red Chilly - 1

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds, red chilly, tamarind, whole garlic and green chillies. 

2. Once it cooks a bit, add tindora and salt and let it cook for 10 mins.

3. Make a coarse paste of the above mixture.

Tindora Chutney is ready to be served with rice !!

Chana Masala

Chana Masala/Chole is a very popular Indian curry which finds its roots in the northern regions of India. It is a part of the Punjabi cuisine. It is usually served with Puri or Batura and can also be served with rice or roti. The same chole can also be used in the preparation of chaat. The hero of this dish is the Garbanzo beans (chickpeas) and the gravy is tangy and very flavorful. This is one of my favorite dishes and I'm sure you will relish it as well.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Garbanzo Beans (chickpeas) - 1 cup (soaked for 6-8 hrs)

Cloves - 4

Cardamom - 4

Cinnamon stick - a small piece

Bay leaves - 2

Oil  - 4 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Onion - 1 (chopped)

Tomato - 2 (chopped)

Turmeric Powder - 0.5 tsp

Chilly Powder - 1.5 tsp

Coriander Powder - 1 tsp

Cumin Powder - 0.5 tsp

Amchur powder - 1 tsp

Coriander leaves - to garnish

Salt - to taste

For the broth:

Tea leaves - 3 tsp

Cloves - 3

Cardamom - 2 crushed

Cinnamon - 1 small piece

Bay leaves - 1

Water - 1 cup

Preparation:

1. Soak the Chana (Garbanzo beans) overnight for 6-8 hours.

2. Add tea leaves, cardamom, cinnamon, clove and bay leaves to water and bring it to boil. Filter this and add the broth to the chana. 

3. Pressure cook the chana with this broth (5-6 whistles). Cooking the chana with the broth will add flavor and color to the chana. Make sure the chana is very well cooked and is easily mashable.

4. Make a powder of cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaves. We can use it in its whole form, but I don't prefer it that way since I don't want those pieces in my mouth. You can also use garam masala powder available in stores if you want, but I like to grind my garam masala this way.

5. Heat oil, add cumin seeds and the ground garam masala that we made above. Let it cook for a while.

6. Once they start spluttering, then add onion, salt and ginger-garlic-chilly paste.

7. Once the onion turns slightly brown, add tomatoes. Cook it until it becomes mashy.

8. Next add the turmeric powder, chilly powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and amchur powder. Let the masala cook for a bit.

9. Next add the pressure cooked broth to the above mixture and let it simmer for a while.

10. In the meantime, take some boiled chana and make a paste out of it. This will give a good consistency when added to the chana masala.

11. Add the above paste and the rest of the chana to the onion-tomato mixture and let it simmer on medium flame. 

12. The chana masala should be a bit tangy, so add the amchur masala as needed.

13. Garnish it with coriander leaves.

Yummy Chole is now ready to be served!!

Lemon Rice

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Oil - 3 tsp

Red Chilly - 1

Peanuts - 1/4 cup

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Chana Dal -1/2 tsp

Urad Dal - 1/2 tsp

Hing - pinch

Curry Leaves - 4 chopped

Ginger - 1/2 tsp grated

Onion - 1 small chopped

Green chilly - 4 slit

Haldi - 1/2 tsp

Cooked Rice - 2 cups (or leftover rice)

Salt - to taste

Lemon juice - 3-4 tsp

Preparation:

1.) Heat oil in a pan, add red chilly, peanuts and fry it till brown.

2.) Add mustard seeds, once it starts to splutter, add chana dal and urad dal. Fry till slightly brown.

3.) Add a pinch of hing, curry leaves, chopped ginger and onion.

4.) Add salt and let the onions cook a bit, next add green chilly, haldi and cooked rice. If you have leftover rice, then you can use it too.

5.) Squeeze lime juice and serve it hot.

Batata Vada

Recipe:

Ingredients:

For filling:

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds - 2 tsp

Oil

Hing - pinch of it

Green chilly - 4

Potato - 4 small

Salt - to taste

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Curry Leaves - 5-6 chopped

Coriander Leaves

Lemon juice - 1 tsp

For Frying:

Besan/Gram Flour - 1/2 cup

Water - as need to make a thick paste

Salt - to taste

Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp

Oil - for deep frying

Preparation:

1. Boil the potatoes and mash it thoroughly. I usually don't prefer lumps of potato, so I boil it for a long time and mash it very well.

2. Take oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and let it splutter.

3. Next add cumin seeds, hing powder, green chilly and let it cook for a while.

4. Add curry leaves and mashed potato and mix well.

5. Add turmeric powder, lemon juice, coriander leaves and mix well. Take it off the stove.

6. Make small balls of this filling.

7. Take gram flour, water, salt, red chilly powder and mix well. This should be of semi-thick consistency so that it can hold onto the filling.

8. Heat oil for frying.

9. Once the oil is hot enough, dip the filling in the gram flour batter and deep fry it.

Batata Vada is ready to be served with Chutney.

Thai Basil Fried Rice with Tofu

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Oil

Hard Tofu - 1

Eggs - 3

Ginger - small piece

Garlic - 7-8 cloves

Onions - 1/2

Green onions - 6

Brocolli - cut into 10-12 florets

Capsicum - 1/2 red, 1/2 yellow

Basil - 6 leaves chopped

Salt

Soy Sauce - 6 tsp

Hoisin sauce - 6 tsp

Green Chilly Sauce - 6 tsp

Rice - 1 cup (cooked rice)

Preparation:

1. Take oil in a pan and scramble the eggs and keep aside.

2. Deep fry the tofu in oil and keep it aside.

3. Take oil in a pan and add crushed ginger-garlic.

4. Add onions and saute them for a while.

5. Next add brocolli and capsicum.

6. Add green onions and chopped basil leaves. 

7. Once the vegetables cook a bit, add salt and fried tofu.

8. Add soy sauce, hoisin sauce and green chilly sauce.

9. Add cooked rice and mix well.

10. Add scrambled eggs and garnish it with basil leaves.

Guacamole

Guacamole is an avocado based dip which originated in Mexico. Avocado is a very healthy fruit loaded with important nutrients. This dip is usually made with ripe avocados. It is served with corn chips, and added as a side to burritos, tacos, enchiladas and salads in Mexican restaurants.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Avocado - 1

Onions - 1/4 piece chopped finely

Tomatoes - 1/2 piece

Pepper - 1 tsp

Salt

Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Preparation:

1. Cut the avacado in the center and scoop the green part with a spoon. Remove the seed and mash the rest.

2. Add chopped onions, tomatoes, salt, pepper and lemon juice and mix well.

This is served with corn chips in many mexican restaurants.

Sticky rice with Mango

The sticky rice with mango is a Thai specialty dessert. The sticky rice is made using the sweet rice which is available in the Asian stores. This sweet rice is cooked with the coconut milk to give it a toothsome flavor. I was lucky to get my hands on some of the Indian Mangoes from a grocery store this summer and I tried out this dessert that I love so much.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Sweet Rice - 1/2 cup

Coconut Milk - 3/4 cup

Sugar - 3 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Mango - 1

Preparation:

1. Wash the sweet rice thoroughly. The sweet rice looks like below:

We got it from this brand from an asian supermarket:

2. Add the rice to the pressure cooker along with coconut milk, sugar and salt and pressure cook it for 3 whistles.

3. Serve it with Mango slices.