Hummus (काबुली चण्याची चटणी)

Hummus is a Mediterranean dish. It is a thick chutney made using boiled chickpeas.

Servings:
3 people

Ingredients:
1 cup of boiled chickpeas (काबुली चणे)
4-5 garlic cloves
1 tsp roasted sesame seeds
1/2 tsp chilly powder or pepper
2 tsp lemon juice
salt as per taste

In a mixer, grind the dry ingredients like sesame seeds, pepper corns, and garlic cloves together. Next add boiled chickpeas and lemon juice and salt. Grind to a coarse paste. Do not add water for grinding, use little bit of lemon juice or curd instead, just enough to grind. Serve this with pita bread or lettuce leaves.

Orange Apple Salad (सफरचंद संत्र्याची कोशिंबीर)

Servings:
4-5 people

Ingredients:
2 apples
3 oranges, peeled
Lettuce leaves
assorted dry fruits like pistachios, walnut chopped
salt as per taste

Dressing:
juice of 1 orange
1 tsp of honey or agave nectar or any other vegan honey substitute
1/2 inch of ginger piece, julienne

Cut apples into chunk sized pieces. Peel oranges, remove the pith and cut them into bite sizes. Take juice of one orange and mix it with honey and ginger. Let it simmer in a vessel for about 10 minutes until it fills your kitchen with a nice aroma and the juice becomes a bit syrupy. Let it cool for some time.

In a large bowl or salad plate, toss together orange pieces, apple pieces and assorted dry fruits. Tear lettuce into bite sized chunks and add this to the fruits. Pour cooled down salad dressing on this. Sprinkle salt as per taste. Stir lightly and carefully so as to prevent lettuce from turning soggy. You can either serve it immediately or refrigerate it and serve it chilled.

Bimbla sweet pickle (बिंबलाचे गोड लोणचे)

Bimbla is a tropical sour , tangy fruit found in konkan area. In Goa, we make curries, pickles from this fruit.

Ingredients:
12-15 Bimbla fruit, sliced (बिंबलाची फळे)
1/2 tsp chilly powder
approx 1/2 cup grated jaggery, or as per taste
1/4 tsp salt

Seasoning:
1 tbsp oil,
1/2 tsp mustard seeds (मोहरी),
a pinch of asafoetida (हिंग),
5-6 fenugreek seeds (मेथी),
8-10 curry leaves
1/4 tsp turmeric powder

Slice bimbla fruits. In a kadhai, heat oil and season with mustard seeds, asafoetida, fenugreek seeds and turmeric powder. Add sliced bimbla fruits and stir well. Cover with lid and let it cook for 2-3 minutes. The bimbla slices will turn slightly soft, change to light yellow color once it is cooked. Now add salt, chilly powder and jaggery. Mix well and let it cook. After about 8-10 minutes, the jaggery will dissolve and form into a slightly frothy syrup. Turn the stove off and allow it to cool.

Store the cooled down pickle into an air-tight container. This pickle can stay outside for 4-5 days or for about 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Poha Chivda (पातळ पोह्यांचा चिवडा)

Ingredients:
1/4 kg flattened rice, thin variety (पातळ पोहे)
1/2 cup roasted groundnuts
1/2 cup puffed rice (चुरमुरे)
1 1/2 tbsp of split roasted gram (डाळे)
A handful of dry coconut pieces
3-4 pieces of dried kokam, cut into pieces
salt as per taste
powdered sugar as per taste

For seasoning:
1/2 tbsp of  oil
1 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds
a pinch of asafoetida
8-10 curry leaves
1 1/2 tsp of sesame seeds (optional)
2 tsp turmeric powder
3-4 green chillies

In a large kadhai, dry roast flattened rice for about 5-10 minutes on low flame until they turn crispy. Keep it aside. Similarly dry roast puffed rice for 2-3 minutes for added crispiness. Keep it aside.  Allow these two ingredients to cool down a bit.

Add oil to the kadhai and do the regular seasoning with mustard seeds, asafoetida, curry leaves, sesame seeds and green chillies and turmeric powder in that order. Next add groundnuts and stir for a minute. Now add kokam pieces, dry coconut pieces and split roasted gram. Mix well and stir for another 5-7 minutes. Once all the ingredients are well roasted, turn off the heat. Allow the seasoning to cool down.

In a large container, mix dry roasted puffed rice, flattened rice with salt and powdered sugar. Once the seasoning has cooled down a bit, mix seasoning with puffed rice and beaten rice. Mix all the contents thoroughly and chivda is ready to serve.

Once the chivda has completely cooled down, store it in an air tight container.
This chivda stays fresh for about a month.

Solkadhi (सोलकढी)

Ingredients:
5-6 dried kokam pieces
3/4 cup freshly grated coconut
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of carom seeds or ajwain (optional)
2-3 green chillies
a pinch of asafoetida
salt as per taste

Soak kokam pieces in about a cup of water for 2-3 hours.  Grind together coconut, garlic, green chillies, carom seeds. Add little bit of water, just enough to grind it together. Extract the juice out of this, strain it. Optionally add about 1/2 cup of water again to the mix and grind it for second round of juice. Add this juice to the water containing kokam pieces. Add asafoetida and salt. Stir well and adjust the water if you think it is too sour.

Solkadhi is a great combination with fried fish or potato and other chips. It also helps in digestion of food. Solkadhi is prepared daily for lunch along with other meal preparations in Goan houses.