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.