by Priyanka posted at 4:53 PM
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Just wanted to let you guys know that i am taking a break from blogging for the next couple of weeks, since we are busy moving to a new apartment. I know i havent been able to respond to your comments and its only because of a very hectic schedule and other priorities. Thank you all for taking the time to visit. I will be back with some more recipes in a couple of weeks. Till then, have fun!!!
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by Priyanka posted at 12:27 AM
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 OK this salad was supposed to be my entry to AFAM:Lychee but the truth is it wouldnt have been fair to the lychees. The reason: the salad with the dressings was awesome but the taste of lychees was undermined the rest of the ingredients. A few lesser ingredients would have worked out just perfect (for the lychees i mean). Now you would ask me- what stopped me from trying out the other version? Well, i asked P to open up the lychee can for me..... and little did i know that P digs on lychees and before i knew he had finished off the rest of the can. Off i went to Whole Foods the next day dragging P along with me (his punishment for having finished off the lychees) only to find that all the lychee cans had disappeared off the shelves and arent available as of today. Thus ends my affair with lychee. Updated 08/27/07 Sig was kind enough to let me submit this recipe for the AFAM:Lychee event, so off it goes to the lovely Sig at Live to EatNow onto the recipe 1 cup lettuce 1/2 cup grated carrots 1/2 can lychees (in my opinion 1 can would work better) 2 tsp cashews (roasted) 2 tsp peanuts (roasted) 3 pieces oranges 1/2 cup red, green and yellow pepper chopped salt to taste 1/3 tsp sugar For the lime dressing 3 tsp grated ginger 2 tsp lime juice For the peanut dressing 3 tsp peanut butter 2 tsp vinegar (Ching's- u will find it at an Indian store) 1 tsp soy sauce (Ching's) 2 tsp grated ginger 2 tsp minced garlic 2 tbs chopped shallots chili flakes 1. Toss all the ingredients together, pour the dressing and serve cold.  The lychees can be best had with only the lettuce, peppers and the lime-ginger dressing. If you just want to enjoy the thai salad, you can enjoy it simply without the oranges and lychee and with the peanut dressing- one of the best salads i have ever had.
by Priyanka posted at 11:29 PM
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Another traditional Maharashtrian dish. This is as homely as it gets. Satisfying and highly nutritious with lots of scope for variation. I usually try to get the fresh vegetables and greens. I dont like to use frozen or canned varieties as far as i can avoid it. Pattal in Marathi means liquidy. So its not a dry or a gravy, but a liquidy version (like a thick punabi dal) of fresh greens. You need 1 cup shepu a.k.a dill (separated, washed and chopped) 3-4 cups palak a.k.a spinach (i used fresh baby spinach- washed and chopped) 3 tbs besan a.k.a gram flour 4 small green chilies chopped 3-4 curry leaves (optional) 2-3 amsul/kokum salt to taste 1-2 tsp jaggery (optional) 8-10 peanuts dry coconut pieces For tempering: 3 tsp oil 1 tsp mustard seeds 1/3 tsp turmeric a pinch of asafoetida 2 finely chopped garlic cloves 1. Mix the chopped dill (the main green stem should be removed) and spinach, add 3-4 cups water and boil it on a medium flame till they are completely boiled and cooked. 2. Drain the water, and keep it aside for later use. 3. Add the gram flour to the boiled spinach-dill and mix it finely till there are no lumps. 4. Add 2 cups of the left over boiled water to this mixture and let it cook. 5. Add salt, 2 of the diced green chilies, peanuts and coconut, kokum and curry leaves (some people dont like the taste of it, some do.... so its upto you) and let it cook on a medium flame till its cooked and the spices have seeped in (approximately 15-20 minutes). 6. Now heat 3 tsp of oil separately for tempering and add the mustard to it. When it crackles, add the turmeric, asafoetida, green chilies and garlic and pour it over the spinach dill mixture. 7. Add jaggery at this point if you like, boil for a couple of more minutes and serve hot with roti or rice. Usually pattal bhaaji is served with varan (plain boiled toor dal).  Variations- You can substitute the dill-spinach combination with only dill, only spinach or methi (fenugreek leaves). The recipe remains the same, but each of these greens lends a varied taste to the dish. I tried this Shepu Bhaaji from Madhuli's version but made some changes as per the above recipe. I took down the recipe from my mom but misplaced it and so looked it up from My Foodcourt. Most of it is the same except for the addition of toor dal. There is no difference taste wise. 
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by Priyanka posted at 10:31 PM
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FUN IN THE SUN: PICNIC FOOD    These muffins are my first try at baking and i am happy to report that they came out pretty well. And the best part about them: they are eggless. These muffins go to Anupama of Food n More for the food event: Picnic food. I followed Saffron of Saffron-Hut's recipe for the banana-walnut muffins and the same for the cherry coconut muffins. I also coated the cherry coconut muffins with cherry glaze for extra cherry flavor. I used organic whole cherries and freshly grated coconut for the cherry coconut muffins. The pictures for the cherry muffins havent come out very well but dont let that fool you... they tasted really amazing. The banana-nut muffins tasted just of the world. For the muffins you need Makes 6 muffins (3 of each varieties) 3/4th cup all purpose flour a pinch of salt 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp baking powder a little less than 1/2 cup sugar 1 big banana 1/2 cup cherries 1/3 cup coconut 1/4th cup melted unsalted butter 3 tsp milk (optional) 1. Preheat the oven to 375 degree. 2. Combine the first five ingredients real well and pass it through a sieve twice. 3. Mash the banana, add half of the unsalted butter and add half of the dry mixed ingredients. Mix only till well mixed. Leave aside for 15-20 minutes. (i found that if left aside after mixing, the muffins puff up very well). 4. Mash the whole cherries, add the coconut, rest of the butter and the all-purpose flour mixture and stir only till properly mixed. If needed- that is if the mixture is too dry add the milk but not too much. Leave aside for 15-20 minutes. 5. Fill up the muffin baking tray upto 3/4th and put in the oven for 20 minutes approximately (muffins will have puffed up and turned brown). Check by inserting the knife completely through the muffin. It should come out clean. Enjoy!!!  Tee of Bhaatukli, Roopa of My Chow Chow Bhath , Richa of As Dear as Salt , Archana of Tried and Tested Recipes, have been sweet enough to pass on the Rocking Girl Blogger and Power of Schmooze Award to me. I dont know if i deserve it but i am humbled by their affection. A million thanks to you girls... your support means a lot to me:).   I would like to pass on the rocking girl award to all the food bloggers out there. All of you ROCK!!! And i would like to pass on the power of schmooze award to Asha of Foodie's Hope.
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by Priyanka posted at 2:34 PM
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 Two hardcore Maharashtrian dishes- with some calories from the Peanut and sesame powder and the bananas- but homemade comfort sumptious food. But once in a while and in moderation doenst hurt, right? Kelicha raita (Keli means Bananas in Marathi) Serves 4 2 medium bananas 4 tbsp yoghurt 1/2 tsp sugar salt to taste 1 small green chili diced 1/3 tsp crushed mustard seed powder (optional) 2 tbs coriander 1. Finely dice the bananas into small pieces. 2. Blend the yoghurt to form a smooth consistent thick paste. 3. Mix the yoghurt, bananas and the rest of the ingredients and serve with rotis and rice as a side dish/raita.  Bharli Vangi I tried out this recipe from Tee's of Bhaatukli and i must say it was amazing. Thanks for the recipe Tee. I just changed the quantity of peanut and sesame powder (since they are prone to cause acidity) and used garam masala instead of goda since i didnt have any left. Refer to Tee's recipe for a step-by-step pictorial. Serves 4 8 baby indian eggplants 1 cup ground peanut powder (roast the peanuts, remove the peel and crush them into a semi-fine powder) 1/4th cup roasted sesame powder 2 tsp garlic 2 tsp ginger 1 tsp red chili powder 4 tsp goda masala (or garam masala if you dont have it) 1/3 tsp turmeric a pinch of asafoetida 1 red onion finely chopped 2 tsp oil 1/2 tsp mustard seeds 1/2 tsp jeera/cumin salt to taste 2 tsp jaggery 1. Slit the eggplants into quarters but not entirely. 2. Next mix the peanut, sesame, salt, chili, turmeric, ginger-garlic and goda masala and stuff this masala-powder mixture into the slit baby eggplants. Keep the remaining powder aside. 3. Next, in 2 tsp of oil, add the mustard and cumin seeds. When they crackle add the asafoetida and a pinch of turmeric and saute the onions till they turn translucent and brown. 4. Now add the stuffed eggplants and saute them on each side for 3-4 minutes. 5. Now add the remaining masala from before, the jaggery and 3/4th cup warm water to the eggplants and let cook till they are completely done. 6. Garnish with coriander and serve hot with rotis. 
by Priyanka posted at 1:15 PM
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 The posts hence forth are going to be very short. Other priorities like school, exams, job and personal life have taken priority over blogging these days. And however much i wish, i just cant find the time to post the recipes. I have missed blogging and blog hopping the past couple of weeks and if i havent replied back to your comments, rest assured its only because of certain other commitments and not out of oversight. Moving on to the recipes.... i will definitely be posting them but they will be sporadic. I am trying to become health conscious these days.... i am not the kinds to diet... so you wont find any of those bland diet food recipes on my blog but everyday low calorie meals. SO heres to some mouthwatering bhendi and dal fry. I usually make dal fry sans the onions but this recipe has been adapted from The Taj Cookbook that i have. I will post the other version some othertime. And i made the bhindi using only 2 teaspoons of oil.
Bhendi Masala Serves 4 1 medium red onion finely chopped(i usually use red onions only for all my recipes) 500 gm bhindi/okra 1 big capsicum chopped into medium sized pieces 2 small tomatoes finely chopped 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste 2 tsp oil 1/3 tsp turmeric 1/2 tsp red chili powder 1 tsp dhana jeeru a.k.a cumin-coriander powder 1/2 tsp garam masala salt to taste 1 tsp lemon juice 1 tsp kasuri methi 2 tbsp coriander The secret to making crisp bhindis is to keep them dry before and while cutting them. After you wash bhindis, dry them properly with a towel/paper napkin. While dicing them remove the slime that sticks to the knife. 1. Heat a big wide skillet on medium flame. 2. Add 1 tsp oil to it and add the diced bhindis. Saute them over a medium flame without covering them till they become crisp- slightly brown and partially cooked. Take care not to burn them. 3. Remove the bhindis, add i tsp lemon juice and little salt and keep aside. Now in the same skillet, add 1 tsp of oil. Add the diced onions and saute them till they turn translucent and golden-brown. Next add the ginger garlic paste and saute it for 2-3 more minutes. 4. Next add the tomatoes and saute them till they are almost cooked and add the turmeric, chili, salt, cumin-coriander and garam masala. Saute for 2-3 minutes and add the capsicum. Saute it for 3-5 minutes and add 1/2 cup of water. 5. Let it partially cook and then add the bhindi to it. Cook it in the open skillet without covering till both the capsicum and bhindi are completely cooked. Add little water while cooking as required if you find that the green peppers and bhindi are not done. Add kasuri methi and cook for 5 more minutes 6. Adjust for taste (chili-salt) and serve hot garnished with coriander alongside rotis.  Dal Fry The original recipe called for masoor dal too but i omitted it. You can also try making this dal with yellow moong dal or just plain masoor dal. The tempering is my addition to the recipe. Serves 4 1-1/2 cup toor dal 1 small red onion 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste 1 big tomato finely chopped 1 tsp oil salt to taste 1/3 tsp red chili powder 1/3 tsp of turmeric 3-4 curry leaves 2 green chilies diced a pinch of asafoetida 3 tbsp coriander For tempering 1 tbs ghee (this adds a unique flavor) (you can try using 1 tsp) 1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds 1-2 red kashmiri chili 1. Pressure cook the toor dal. Add enough water to make it consistent and thick. Dal Fry should never be liquidy like the Gujarati or Marathi dals are. Add apinch of turmeric and salt to it and keep it aside. 2.Next add 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, and saute the ginger-garlic paste in 1 tsp of oil. After 2-3 minutes, add the onions and saute them till they turn translucent. 3.Add the green chili, asafoetida and tomatoes and cook till they are completely done. Now add the turmeric and the dal and cook it for 10 or more minutes till the dal releases the masala. 4. Add the curry leaves and boil for another 5 minutes. 5. Heat ghee and add cumin seeds to it. When they crackle add the kashmiri chili and pour it over the dal. 6. Garnish with coriander and serve with rice or parathas. 
by Priyanka posted at 10:57 PM
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Mallugirl's theme of Cooking under 30 minutes is every woman's dream. Who wouldnt like to cook sumptous dishes without going that extra mile when you are bogged down by work and also have to manage personal life along with it. A couple of years ago when pressed for time, either khichdi, or some dal preparation, alu sabzi or rajma- would serve as a quick and easy way out. However that has all changed since the day i first made Chinese. Some of these recipes can be made in minutes if you have some of the ingredients on hand in the pantry or the fridge or some leftovers. I always have some carrots (baby and grated ones), capsicum and cabbage stored away in my fridge for emergencies when i am out of veggies or i have cook up something in a jiffy. I usually keep a paste of green chilies, garlic and ginger too in an air-tight container in the fridge which lasts me for a week. Sometimes i make a paste of only ginger and green chilies. Today presented a perfect opportunity for me to cook up some Chinese. My school starts tomorrow and i had a lot of assignments to catch up on (by now you must already know that i am quite the last minute doer) plus i had some rice left over from yesterday. And since i had been grocery shopping just a couple of days back, i also had some eggplants (Indian baby eggplants, not the chinese or Thai variety) sitting in the vegetable drawer of my fridge. Moving on to the recipes, the famous hot and sour soup is the first appetiser that you order at a restaurant. This hot and spicy soup is perfect for wintry evenings or when you are down with a cold or flu. You can serve it with some tasty vegetable spring rolls. I found the recipe to this soup on the internet eons ago, but i dont have the link to it. I must add here that without timed planning and simultaneous cooking on 3 different stoves, cooking all the three dishes is not possible. At the most you can make any 2 of them with another 10 minutes to spare if you do not have all the necessary ingredients. It was only because i had most of the ingredients on hand that it made the cooking so much faster and easier. How did i do that? I put 4 cups of water to boil on one stove and 6 cups on another stove on a very high flame. While the water boiled, i assembled all the ingredients required for all the three dishes- namely- soy sauce, green chili sauce, vinegar, chili garlic sauce, cabbage, carrots, capsicum, coriander, garlic, ginger, sugar, cornstarch powder, rice, oil, green chili-ginger-garlic paste, salt. This took me approximately 5 minutes. Next i added the sauces required for the soup to the 4 cups of water and went about dicing the cabbage (i only needed 1 cupful), capsicum and eggplants. I already had some grated carrots on hand, so it made my job that much easier. This took another 10 minutes. Next, I added the veggies to the boiling soup concoction and eggplants to the boiling water on the other stove and covered it for 4-5 minutes till the eggplants were cooked but not mashed. In those 5 minutes, i cooked the veg. fried rice- recipe follows. Next i made the sauce for the eggplant dish by mixing all the sauces together which took like 2 minutes, grated some garlic and ginger and made a paste of cornflour by mixing it in little water. This cornflour paste i added to the soup and voila in another couple of minutes my soup was ready with another 6-7 minutes to spare. I heated up oil in a skillet on a high flame, stirred in the spices, sauce and the eggplants and let it cook for the rest of the time, allowing the sauce to seep in. And thats it..... my express Chinese meal was ready. Hot and Sour SoupServes 4 Ingredients: 4 cups of water 1/2 tbs of green chilly sauce (Ching’s preferably- or adjust according to your taste)
2 tbs of vinegar
1 tbs of soy sauce
1 cupful of grated carrots, cabbage
tofu (optional) chinese bean sprouts (optional)
finely chopped coriander
1 and a half tablespoonful of cornstarch powder
salt and pepper to taste
1. Take 4 cups of water, add the green chilly sauce, vinegar, soy sauce, salt and a little sugar to taste and boil it.
2. When the concoction is boiling real hard add the grated carrots and cabbage. You can also add Chinese bean sprouts (cooked according to directions on the packet) if you like. And boil it for 5 minutes.
3. Take the cornstarch powder and mix it in half a cup of water and add it to the boiling mix to thicken it a little.
4. Now add tofu if you like it. Cook for another 2 minutes or so and garnish it with finely chopped coriander.
5. Dont add pepper to the soup because it might make it really spicy. Leave it for the guests if they want it.
6.Also you can use a little less of the green chilly sauce if you don’t like it very hot.
7. Serve the soup really hot, because as it starts turning cold it looses all its taste.
I did not have any chinese bean sprouts or tofu on hand, so i only added the cabbage and carrots. 
Eggplants in Garlic sauce Serves 2 I found the recipe here, however i made some modifications. 8 small baby eggplants chopped 3 cloves of garlic grated 2 inch piece of ginger grated 2 shallots diced salt to taste 2 tsp oil To make sauce: 1 tbs soy sauce 2 tbs vinegar 2 tbs chili-garlic sauce ( i added a little of the green chili sauce too) 1 tbs sugar 2/3 cup water 1. Add the chopped eggplants to the boiling water and cook them for 5 minutes (pressed under water or they will float) till they are cooked but not mashed. 2. Next heat oil and add the grated ginger-garlic, saute for 1-2 minutes and add the eggplants and the sauce and let it boil till the mixture thickens a little. 3. Add salt and shallots and serve hot with plain rice. You can also add some wine to it as the original recipe calls for to give a slightly sweet taste.  Vegetable Fried Rice Serves 2 4 cups of boiled rice (each grain of rice should be cooked but separate- if the rice has been refrigerated overnight or for atleast 4-5 hours even better)- If you were to actually make the fried rice with time on your hands, cook the rice a day ahead and refrigerate it overnight. 2 cups of diced carrots, capsicum, shallots and cabbage (i used half a capsicum, 2 shallots, 8 baby carrots and some cabbage) 1 tbs green chili-garli-ginger paste/ Ching's green chili sauce 1-1/2 tbs soy sauce salt to taste 2 tbs oil 1. Heat 2 tbs oil in a skillet on a high flame. add a pinch of sugar to it- when the sugar turns brown, add 1/2 tbs of ginger-garli-chili paste and saute for a minute. 2. Add the veggies and saute for 2-3 minutes (they should remain crispy and partially cooked). 3. Next add the rice, salt, soy sauce and remaining green chili paste/ching's chili sauce. Mix well and serve hot. This Chinese meal goes to Shaheen of Malabar Spices for the Summer Express Cooking Event. P.S.- Just a tip- incase you dont have Ching's green Chili sauce you can replace it by making a paste of green chilies, ginger and garlic at home. The taste of the dish wont be altered.
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by Priyanka posted at 10:38 PM
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Alu-Potal Rasa, Chana Dali, Luchi, Rasabali The theme for this month's Regional cuisine of India is Oriya cuisine and our host- Swapna from Swad of India has asked us to explore the wonderful eastern state of Orissa to come up with some authentic Oriya dishes. Being relatively ignorant about this particular cuisine of India, i googled it and was rewarded with a lot of varied recipes from these links in Wiki. Now i am not much of a planner. If i do plan something, it never works out as planned.... so i rarely plan anything. Whatever dishes i have cooked so far are cooked on the spur of the moment. If it means that i have to drive half an hour to the grocery store to get some missing ingredient, i do so....and since i didnt have a lot of the ingredients needed for these Oriya recipes, off i went to the grocery store today to get them after i decided on what to cook. Since i have never cooked any Oriya dishes before, i was a bit apprehensive about how they might turn out. However all the dishes that i made far surpassed my expectations. Now, i dont like parval as a sabzi- the way we make it at home is to just stir-fry the veggie with some mustard, turmeric and chili powder thrown in for taste. But when i came across the alu-potal recipe (potato-parval curry vegetable), i decided to give it a try because of the spices and condiments in it. Believe me, this one's a keeper. Never again am i making parval the old way!!! The chana dal has a blend of some unique and totally different flavors. The cardamom, the black pepper, cinnamon and coconut lend an authentic, fresh aroma, adding a different spin on the dal that we usually have. Its not spicy in taste but its not bland either. Bear in mind- the dal is very heavy and you cannot have more than one helping of the dal if you are having a fullfledged meal. The Rasabali- is akin to gulabjamuns in rabdi/sweet flavored milk. As soon as i read the recipe, i knew that i would love it. The only cons to it were i had difficulty frying the paneer balls (any help/suggestion would be appreciated)- they kept sticking to the kadai and secondly, i used 2% milk (i know- i should have used whole milk/condensed milk). Well, there's always a second chance:) I made slight variations to this recipe- adding saffron and cardamom to the boiled milk. I served the dal and curry vegetable with rice and luchis (my luchis didnt puff up as well as Asha's:(, but i will keep practising- need some tips Asha). Here go the recipes: 1. Chana Dali Serves 2 1 cup chana dal 1/4 th cup grated fresh coconut 1 big stick cinnamon 2 cloves 2 cardamoms 1-1/2 tsp cumin-coriander seeds 1/2 tsp whole black pepper 1/3 tsp turmeric salt to taste sugar (a pinch) For tempering: 2 tsp ghee 1 tsp cumin, mustard, fenugreek and fennel seeds (char phutana) 1. Boil the chana dal in a pressure cooker so that it is cooked but not completely mashed. 2. Add turmeric, salt and sugar and boil it on a low flame till it thickens (add water if it thickens a lot) 3. Make a paste of the coconut, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and pepper and add it to the dal and boil for 10 minutes. 4. Heat ghee and add the tempering ingredients and when they splutter, pour over hte dal mix, simmer for 10 more minutes and serve with rice or roti/puris/luchis.  2. Alu-Potal Rasa Serves 4 15-20 parvals 2 medium potatoes salt to taste 1/2 tsp chili powder 2 tsp cumin-coriander powder 1 tsp garam masala 1/3 tsp turmeric 2 small tomatoes finely chopped For paste 1 small red onion 1 inch piece of ginger 2 cloves garlic 2 cloves 1 stick cinnamon 2 cardamoms For tempering 1 tsp cumin seeds 3 green chilies 1. Dice the potatoes and parval and pan fry them till they are cooked and slighlty golden brown.Remove and set aside. 2. Heat oil and add cumin seeds to it. When they splutter, add the green chilies and the paste. Fry for 5-10 minutes. 3. Next add the turmeric and all the spices and saute for another 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and fry for 10 more minutes. 4. Now add the potato-parval, salt, a little water and cook for another 10 minutes. If the potato-parval are not cooked , add a little water and cook them until they are done. Serve with rotis/puris.  3. Luchis Makes 12 2 cups maida salt to taste water 1. Make a stiff dough by firmly kneading the maida with little water and set it aside for 20 minutes. 2. Make small balls and roll them out as you would a puri and deep fry them. Do not let them turn brown like puris. 3. Serve with dal/sabzi.  4. Rasabali Serves 4 250 gm paneer 3 tsp wheat flour 1-1/2 tsp cardamom powder 1/4 cup sugar (or as per your taste) ghee/oil for frying 3-1/2 cups milk (whole or condensed) a few strands of saffron 1. Knead the paneer, 1 tsp cardamom, wheat flour and 2 tsp sugar together. You will have to knead for a long time till the paneer no longer breaks while moulding. 2. Make small round balls or patties and deep fry them in oil/ghee. 3. Boil the whole or condensed milk till it thickens and then add the remaining sugar to it. Add 1/2 tsp cardamom and saffron (soak it in some hot milk and grind it in a mortar). 4. Add the paneer balls and simmer on low flame for 5 more minutes.
by Priyanka posted at 5:32 PM
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This is going to be a short post. Am caught up with some work but since i couldnt contribute to the two earlier ones, i didnt want to miss out on Nupur's last series... Wanted the last entry to be something grand like zaaykedar or zesty something but here it is- something quick and tasty to boot- Zucchini Bhajjis. Sorry Nupur:)
This is a mixed platter of bhajjis- plain zucchini bhajjis, zucchini and methi bhajjis, and zucchini and onion bhajjis. All you need for this is Ingredients 1 zucchini (diced) 7 tbs gram flour (besan) salt to taste 1/2 tsp red chili powder 4-5 green chilies chopped 1/3 tsp turmeric 1/2 tsp ajwain 3 tbs kasuri methi 1 small onion, julienned water oil for frying 1. Add salt, chili powder, turmeric, ajwain, green chilies to the besan, and add water to form a thick batter. Mix uniformly to break all the lumps. 2. Dip a couple of pieces of zucchini in the batter and slowly release into the oil for frying (the oil should be hot enough- preferbaly start heating it up 10-15 minutes before you begin frying). 3. When the bhajjis turn brown on both sides remove and place on paper. 4. Next add the kasuri methi to the batter and dip a couple more zucchinis into the batter and fry as described in steps 2 and 3. Fry as many as you want. 5. Now add the onions to the batter, add the zucchini pieces and with your hand or a spoon relaease the mix of onions and zucchini into the oil for frying. 6. Remove and serve hot with ketchup.
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by Priyanka posted at 9:44 PM
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Yay!!!! I discovered the secret recipe to Laganni (lagan means wedding in gujarati) gujarati dal:) If you have ever tasted the gujarati dal made specially on marraige occasions, you will know what i am talking about it. Served with basmati rice at weddings this slightly khati-meethi (sweet and sour) dal is something to lick your fingers off and i really mean licking your fingers.
My MIL (mom-in-law) makes awesome gujarati dal. However, I have never been able to replicate this wedding dal made froom tuvar dal despite umpteen attempts....until today. My efforts have finally paid off. So, here i share with you this recipe. It comes quite close to the traditional dal with just a couple of ingredients missing- tamarind, ambolia and kharek (i didnt have them). Any further inputs are welcome:) Serves 4 Ingredients 1-1/2 cup tuvar dal (toor/split yellow peas) 8-10 curry leaves 1 small tomato (finely chopped) 4 kokum pieces 2 green chilies 3 tbs jaggery salt to taste 1 tbsp cumin-coriander powder 2/3 tsp chili powder 1/3 tsp turmeric a pinch of asafoetida 1 tsp amchur powder 1/4 th cup peanuts 1 inch piece of ginger (grated) Updated 08/02/07 add tamarind paste in equal proportions to the jaggery that you add also add kharek (dry dates) and ambolia (dried green mango) if you have any For tempering 1/2 tsp cumin seeds 1/2 tsp mustard seeds 1/3 tsp fenugreek seeds 3-4 curry leaves 2 red chilies 1 kashmiri dried chili 3 cloves 1 stick cinnamon 1. Boil the tuvar dal with three-four cups of water. Mash the dal completely. Add 3 cups of water (more or less as per your choice) to make it liquidy enough. 2. Add the chili powder, turmeric, asafoetida, curry leaves, salt, cumin-coriander, chopped green chilies,tomatoes, kokum and salt to taste. Let it boil for 15-10 minutes. 3. Next add the amchur powder and jaggery, peanutes and grated ginger and let boil for another 15-20 minutes. (keep adding water if the dal thickens stirring once in a while). Add tamarind paste, kharek and ambolia if you have any and boil for abother 15 minutes or so. 4. Heat 3 tbsp oil for tempering, add in the cumin, mustard and fenugreek seeds. When they splutter, add the curry leaves, red chilies, cinnamon and cloves and pour it into the dal mixture. 5. Serve hot garnished with coriander with rice or pulao.
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by Priyanka posted at 12:16 AM
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Yumm....Slurp....Yumm... Slurp.....!!!!Thats how i go when i think of Methi na Dhebra with garmagaram Cha. It also reminds me of Rasika Ba (Ba means mother or grandma in gujarati) - our beloved next-door neighbour in Ahmedabad. I cant put it in words what she means to us. This dear old gutsy lady is like a grandma to us- she is from Kathiawad and in the real sense an Annapurna. We remember running over to her house as kids whenever we got a whiff of the aroma of whatever it was that she cooked in her small kitchen. And she would graciously partake of whatever she cooked and some more and regale us with stories of kings and queens from Kathiawad and Rajasthan (she was second-in-line to the throne of the province known as Malia) and some words of wisdom. So, this one is for you Ba.
Well, for all you non-Gujaratis out there, this is a Gujarati snack dish made from Fenugreek leaves (methi) and millet flour (bajri no lot- "lot" in guajrati means flour). When Mallugirl asked me a couple of days back whether theplas are made with millet flour, it instantly reminded me of Dhebras. As far as i know, theplas are spicy indian vegetable stuffed parathas (similar to soft tortillas) made with regular whole wheat flour whereas dhebras are small fried vadas stuffed with vegetables and made from millet flour. This is the second dish that i made for P yesterday. P likes to munch on something when he has his morning tea. Since we were out of breakfast snacks, i made these. I knew he would love it. And i wasnt wrong. If you have never tried these, i would recommend making them-they taste absolutely heavenly when you have it with a cup of hot tea or coffee in the morning or simply as an afternoon snack. Dhebras are not thin like puris...its just that i made them like i woould make puris. Generally Dhebras are patted out to be thick as a patty.
Here goes the recipe: Makes 22-24 dhebras Ingredients 2 cups millet/bajra flour 1/4 cup whole wheat flour 2 tbsp semolina/rava 3 tbsp besan (gram flour) 2 tsp sesame seeds 1 cup fenugreek leaves (usually fresh ones are used, but since i couldnt get any, i used kasuri methi) salt to taste 1/2 tsp sugar 1/2 tsp red chili powder 1/3 tsp turmeric 1/2 to 3/4 cup yoghurt To be made into paste 5 green chilies 1 inch piece of ginger 2 cloves of garlic 1. Add all the ingredients except yoghurt and the ground paste and mix well. This ensures that the spices are uniformly mixed. 2. Now add the green chili-ginger-garlic paste and mix well. 3. Next start making a dough using yoghurt (the yoghurt should be sour- khatta in taste). You might not need all 3/4 cup of yoghurt. Make a firm but semi-soft dough (like you would make for puris) and leave it aside for atleast 30 minutes to an hour. 4. After an hour, get some oil ready for frying in a kadai. Make medium sized balls (like you would make for puris). 5. Start patting out the balls with hand or rolling with a pin on a plastic wrap ( i used some wheat flour to dunk the balls in- it made the job easier) into medium sized patties and gently slip them into the kadai for frying. 6. When the vadas puff up and turn brown all over remove them and let drain on a paper towel to remove excess oil. Let cool. (Stored well in the refrigerator, they last atleast a week) You can reheat in the microwave before you eat. 7. Serve hot with coffee or tea or simply with golkeri (a sweet gujarati mango pickle made using jaggery) 
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