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!!