Banana Berry Smoothie ( बनाना बेरी शेक )

Banana Berry Smoothie

1 large orange, peeled
1/4 cup blueberries
1/2 cup raspberries
1 kiwi, peeled
1 banana, peeled
4-5 blackberries (optional)
4-5 strawberries (optional)

Juice the orange manually or using a juicer. Add the remaining ingredients and orange juice to a blender and blend until smooth. You can enjoy it fresh or refrigerate it for an hour and serve it chilled.

Colocacia Leaves gravy (अळूचं फतफतं / तेरं)

This is a popular Maharashtrian gravy, prepared especially during festivals. In Goa, we call this dish tera (तेरं). A simple, nutritious and tasty gravy dish.

Servings: 4-5 people

Ingredients:
2-3 medium sized colocasia leaves, finely cut, about 2 cups of chopped leaves
1/2 cup radish, finely cut
1/4 cup toor or yellow dal
a handful of peanuts
1 1/2 tsp of garam masala
1 tbsp tamarind pulp
2 tsp besan or chickpea flour
1 tsp red chili powder
1 1/2 tsp jaggery or as per taste
salt as per taste

For seasoning:
1/2 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of asafoetida
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
8-10 curry leaves
1/2 tsp turmeric powder

Soak peanuts in water for an hour. Soak tamarind in water for an hour and extract tamarind pulp out of it. Next, finely chop colocasia leaves and stem and radish. Wash toor (yellow) dal. Add colocasia leaves, radish and soaked peanuts to the washed dal. Add sufficient water and pressure cook for upto 3 whistles. While dal and other ingredients are getting cooked, dilue besan flour with water. Use very little water to make the besan flour paste. Keep it aside.

Once the dal is cooked and cooled down a bit, you can do the seasoning. In a heated kadhai, add oil and keep the stove on low flame. Once the oil is heated, add all the seasoning ingredients one by one. Next add cooked dal and colocasia mixture. Add red chilli powder, garam masala and tamarind pulp. Add salt and jaggery to the simmering gravy. Next add besan paste, stirring the curry while adding the paste. Let it simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Colocasia leaves gravy is ready to serve. It goes well with rice or jowar, bajra, ragi or rice bhakri (millet flatbread)

Quinoa Salad (किनवाचे सॅलड)

Quinoa is a recent addition to our food. Quinoa is considered to be a healthy grain option. It is also considered as a super food. I think quinoa is a very versatile grain. You can cook it as per your mood of the day ! I have tried making quinoa upma (just like daliya upma). It tastes great too.

Quinoa is very easy and quick to cook. I often use this as a salad base. To cooked quinoa, I add any other salad ingredients that I can find in my fridge. This particular recipe I make for dinner.

Servings: 3 people

Ingredients:
1/2 cup quinoa grain,
1 cup of water
1 tbsp olive oil,
1/4 cup chopped onion,
8-10 cherry tomatoes or 1 regular tomato, cubed
2-3 leaves of Romaine lettuce (or any other variety)
8-10 pitted green olives
1 avocado (optional)
mixed salad green leaves like spinach, arugula, kale or any other variety
salt as per taste
freshly grated black pepper as per taste
chilli flakes as per taste

In a pot, pour 1 cup of water and bring it to boiling point. Add quinoa and let it cook for 10 minutes. Look at the instructions on the quinoa packet to cook it well. It takes about 10-15 minutes to cook the quinoa. Turn off the heat and cover with lid. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes

Once the quinoa is cooled down, mix together olive oil, salt, pepper, chilli flakes and all other ingredients. Stir together with quinoa, adjust the salt and pepper seasoning. Keep it in the fridge. This salad tastes good as cold salad. 

Sauted long beans (तेलावर परतवलेली वालीची भाजी)

In my family, all of us like munching raw long beans. I remember doing it since my childhood. Long beans are very easy to cook. Somehow I prefer their raw, tender flavor rather than cooked (boiled) flavor. I made this as a side dish along with palak paneer, which is my daughter's favorite vegetable for her school tiffin. I added walnuts to this dish for an extra crunchiness. You can add cashews too.

Ingredients:
A bunch of long beans, washed and cut into long strips
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp sesame seeds,
a handful of walnuts, chopped
1/2 tbsp olive oil or any other cooking oil
1 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar or lemon juice and honey combination
salt as per taste
black pepper powder as per taste

In a heated kadhai, pour olive oil. Add garlic pieces, sesame seeds, black pepper powder, walnut pieces. Sautee for 1 minute till garlic pieces are well fried and turned brown. Next to it, add cut pieces of long beans and sautee on high flame for 1-2 minutes. Season with salt. Add balsamic vinegar and mix well. Sautee for an additional 1 minute. You can also use lemon juice and honey combination instead of balsamic vinegar.

This is a simple and tasty side dish cum salad with rice or chapati.

Dry Garlic Chutney (सुकी लसूण चटणी)

Ingredients:
1 dried coconut, grated
8-10 garlic cloves,
1 tbsp chilli powder,
3-4 kokum fruit or 1/2 tbsp deseeded dry tamarind
salt to taste
a pinch of sugar

Grind garlic cloves, kokum fruit, chilli powder together. Next add grated dried coconut, salt, sugar. Grind to a coarse powder.

This chutney stays good for a month. 

Carrot and mung lentil salad (गाजर आणि मुगडाळ कोशिंबीर)

Ingredients:
3 grated medium-sized carrots,
1/3 cup mung bean lentils, soaked in water for 20 minutes
1/3 cup grated coconut,
chopped coriander for garnish
8-10 raisins (optional)
2-3 green chillies, finely cut
1/2 tsp lemon juice
salt as per taste

Combine together all the ingredients listed. Mix lightly. Serve immediately or refrigerate until the next meal. 

Dill Rice (शेपू भात)

Ingredients:
2 cups of cooked rice,
1/2 cup dill leaves, cut finely
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, diced
salt as per taste

For seasoning:
3 tsp oil,
1 1/2 tsp mustard seeds,
a pinch of asafoetida,
1 tsp turmeric,
3-4 dry red chillies

Servings: 2 people

In a kadhai, heat oil and add mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds start spluttering, add asafoetida, red chillies and turmeric. Mix well and add garlic cloves. Stir for 2 minutes. Next add onion. Stir for 3-4 minutes and add chopped dill leaves. Mix it well with onion and the seasoning. Add salt, stir well and cover for 2 minutes. In the meantime, spread the cooked rice on a plate and loosen the rice with a spoon. Mix rice with cooked dill and stir well. Cover with lid and cook for additional 4-5 minutes.

Dill rice is ready to serve. Dill rice tastes good along with a green salad or yogurt based raita.

Tip: You can add 2 tsp lemon juice to enhance the taste of the rice. You can also add chopped cashew nuts or peanuts during seasoning, if you like. 

Raw Mango Chutney (कैरीची चटणी)

Ingredients:
1 medium sized raw mango,
1 cup grated dry coconut,
2 tbsp jaggery, adjust as per sourness of the raw mango,
1 tsp salt

For seasoning:
2 tsp oil,
1 tsp mustard,
a pinch of asafoetida,
10-12 fenugreek seeds,
2-3 dry red chillies, cut in half
1 tsp turmeric
6-7 curry leaves

Servings: 5-6 people

Wash raw mango thoroughly and peel its skin and grate it. Mix the grated raw mango with grated dry coconut and jaggery and salt. Mix it lightly and check the sourness of the mixture. Depending on the sourness of the raw mango, you might need to add more jaggery. The mixture should be sour and sweet but neither too sour nor too sweet.

Place a small pan or tadka pan on low flame. Once the pan is hot, add oil and mustard. Let the mustard seeds splatter well. Add asafoetida, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, red chillies and turmeric. Turn the stove off and pour this seasoning on the raw mango, dry coconut, jaggery mixture. Mix well, coating the mixture well with the seasoning. Serve either with Parathas or as a side dish with rice or chapati.

Store this chutney in an air tight container. It stays fresh in the fridge for a week.