This tomato chutney or salsa recipe was taught to me by my cook who is a nepali. The first time she made this, I loved it so much and asked her to share the recipe so I can jot it down in this diary. Thanks Sunitha for sharing this tasty recipe.
Recipe:
Ingredients:
Coriander Leaves - handful
Garlic - 3 pods
Tomato - 4
Green Chilly - 2
Red Chilly - 1
White till - 2 tsp (optional)
Tadka:
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Preparation:
1.) Take all the ingredients in a mixer jar and grind into a paste.
2.) For tadka, take oil, mustard seeds and cumin seeds.
This goes well with rava idli, dosa, paratha or you can make tacos using this as the red salsa.
Gimchun Batata Bhaji translates to Hand Mashed Potato Curry. My mom used to make this as a side for Chapathi for breakfast. One of the house favorites, this dish brings back my childhood memories.
Here's the recipe for this awesome dish.
Recipe:
Ingredients:
Potato - 3
Onion - 2 (Optional)
Tomato - 1 (Optional)
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Urad Dal - 1 tsp
Chana Dal - 1 tsp
Hing - pinch
Curry leaves - 10
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Green Chilly - 1
Turmeric Powder - 0.5 tsp
Salt - to taste
Sugar - 0.5 tsp
Coriander leaves - for garnishing
Preparation:
1.) Boil potato in a cooker
2.) Heat oil in a pan
3.) Add mustard seeds and let it splutter.
4.) Add urad dal, chana dal, hing, curry leaves and cumin seeds and let it fry till it turns brown.
5.) Add chopped onions (optional), tomato (optional), green chilly and let it fry.
6.) Add turmeric powder, mashed potato and water and let it cook well.
7.) Add salt, a pinch of sugar and garnish with coriander leaves.
Gimchun Bhaji is ready to be served with puri or Chapati.
When I was a kid, my neighbors who are originally from North India, would make this dessert for festivals or as an offering to God during puja. I never knew the name of the dish, but this dish had captured my heart. Recently my mom mentioned about a brown sheera that she had eaten during a community Ganesh Chaturthi festival and I was overcome with nostalgia. In my attempt to find the name of the dish, I searched the internet and found recipes for a brown sheera called "Atta Halwa". I gave it a shot and the result - I rediscovered a long forgotten sweet from my childhood.
Atta Halwa or Wheat Halwa or Brown Sheera is a dessert that just melts in your mouth. Here is the recipe I found on the internet.
Recipe:
Ingredients:
Ghee - 0.5 cup
Wheat Flour (Atta) - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Water - 2 cup
Dry Fruits (Cashew and Almonds) - 5 each (sliced)
Preparation:
1.) In a pan, heat ghee and add the dry fruits to it. Once the dry fruit turns slightly brown, add the atta and let it cook until it turns brown color.
2.) Meanwhile in another vessel, take water and sugar and heat it till it bubbles (boils). We are not making sugar syrup, so make sure you switch off the gas once the sugar water bubbles.
3.) Once the atta mixture turns brown and starts to ooze a bit of ghee, add this hot bubbling water slowly. Mix well so that there are no lumps formed.
Atta Halwa is ready to be served hot!
Mulka is popular dish in Konkan cuisine. Its traditionally made with Jackfruit, but you can also use Banana to make this yummy dessert. This is usually prepared during Ganesh Chaturthi and is also called Banana Modak. It looks like a fritter and is a healthy snack for kids. Here is the recipe from my mom in law and I hope you enjoy making this awesome dessert.
Recipe:
Ingredients:
Banana - 3
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Jaggery - 1 small ball (or a small cup)
Salt - 0.5 tsp
Semolina (Sooji/Rava) - 1 cup (or as much required to thicken the batter)
Oil for deep frying
Preparation:
1.) Mash some banana in a bowl and mix it with grated coconut, crushed jaggery and salt. Make it into a fine paste by mixing well with hand.
2.) Next add rava to the above mix and mix well till it thickens.
3.) Heat oil for deep frying. Then take small portions of the batter and drop it in hot oil. Cook till they turn brown.
Hot hot Banana Mulka is ready to be served.
Khatkhata is a Maharastrian specialty made from 21 or more vegetables. This curry is made on the first day of Ganesh Chaturthi and is very nutritious and healthy. My mom in law shared this recipe with me and we love it so much that its now made frequently at home. My kid especially loves eating corn cobs from the curry. Here goes the recipe for this amazing dish.
Recipe:
Ingredients:
Green Chilies - 7
Fresh Coriander Leaves - 1 small cup
Toor Dal - 3 tsp or 1/2 vati*
Peanuts - 3 tsp
Grated Coconut - 1 small cup
Tamarind - a small marble sized ball
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Hing - pinch
Vegetables: Take 21 or more vegetables of your choice. Take small portion for each vegetable.
Slow Cooking Vegetables: To be Pressure cooked
Raw Banana
Raw Papaya
Elephant Yam (Suran)
Chayote Squash
Ivy Gourd (Tindora)
Snake Gourd (Padwal)
Round Cucumber (Dosakai)
Turnip
Radish (Mooli)
Sweet Potato
Corn
Carrot
Green Peas (or black dry peas)
Cluster Beans (Chitmitki)
Taro Root (Arbi)
Fast Cooking Vegetables: To be boiled in vessel separately so that they don't get mashed in the pressure cooker.
Drumstick
Red Pumpkin
Brinjal (White, purple, long green or any variety or a combination)
Ridge Gourd (Ghosale)
Bottle Gourd (Dudhi)
Green Beans
Cucumber
Potato
Green Tomato (Optional)
Preparation:
1.) Take toor dal, peanuts, the slow cooking vegetables and water and pressure cook them.
2.) Heat oil in a vessel, add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add hing to this and the fast cooking vegetables and water and cover it with lid to boil them.
3.) After it boils, add the pressure cooked vegetables to it.
4.) In a mixer, take some coconut, tamarind, green chilies, coriander leaves, salt and water and grind it into a smooth paste.
5.) Put this paste in the vegetable mix and let it boil well.
Khatkhata is ready to be served with rice.
*vati = idli vati
