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. 

Tomato Saar (टोमेटोचे सार)

Ingredients:
3 medium sized tomatoes, cut into large pieces
1/2 inch ginger
2-3 garlic cloves
1/4 cup grated coconut
1/2 tsp cumin powder
2-3 green chillies
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp jaggery (optional)
salt as per taste
5-6 coriander leaves

Servings: 4 people

In a flat vessel, boil tomato pieces, ginger and garlic cloves. Add about 2 cups of water. Boil for about 7-8 minutes till tomatoes turn soft. Let it cool for some time.

Grind together all the ingredients along with boiled tomato, garlic and ginger. On a gas stove, simmer this mixture for 10 minutes. Add jaggery while boiling the gravy. Adjust jaggery based on the sourness of the tomatoes. Add about 1 cup of water while boiling to adjust the consistency of the gravy.

This gravy tastes very good with rice or chapati or bhakri. It also can be served as hot soup.

Peas curry (वाटाण्याची आमटी)

This is a Goan style peas curry prepared with coconut. We call it Chanya ros (चण्या रोस) in konkani.

Ingredients:
1 cup white or green peas, soaked overnight,
1/4th cup freshly grated coconut,
1 medium sized onion,
1 tsp garam masala,
1-2 red chillies,
1 tsp coriander seeds,
1/2 tsp cumin seeds,
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2-3 dried kokam
salt as per taste
1 tsp jaggery (optional)

Servings: 3-4 people

Soak the green peas or white peas overnight. Add little bit salt and pressure cook them the next day for 3 whistles.  Heat a kadhai or cooking pan, dry roast freshly grated coconut along with onion, garam masala, chillies, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, dried kokam and turmeric powder. Roast it well stirring for some time until a nice aroma of the masala fills the kitchen. Keep it aside for cooling.

Once the roasted masala is cooled down a bit, grind it in a mixer with little water. The paste consistency should be of a chutney. Add this paste to the boiled peas and simmer for 5-7 minutes. Adjust salt and jaggery. Mix well. Adjust the water in the curry to make it of a required consistency (not too thick, not too watery).

In a small tadka pan (tadkawati), heat 1/4 tsp ghee or oil. Season with 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, a pinch of asafoetida, 7-8 curry leaves and little bit of turmeric powder with 1-2 red chillies. Pour this seasoning over the simmering peas curry. Let it simmer for another 2-3 minutes.

Goan special peas curry is ready to serve. This curry tastes good with Goan pav or bread.

Ragi Sweet Porridge (नाचणीचे सत्त्व)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup ragi grains or 1/2 cup ragi flour (नाचणी)
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup jaggery, grated
a few cardamom seeds, powdered
handful of chopped dry fruit nuts like cashew, pistachios

Servings:
3 people

You can either use ragi grains or store-bought ragi flour. If you using grains, soak them in water for 2-3 hours. Next grind them in a mixer with minimum water. Extract juice out of this paste, and strain it. This is called ragi satva or extract of the ragi grain. To this add, coconut milk, jaggery and mix well.

Place this liquid on a low flame on gas stove and stir continuously. The mixture will slowly start thickening. Keep stirring continuously to avoid any lumps. After about 7-8 minutes, the mixture will be thickened and will develop a slight glaze. The mixture should be porridge thick. Turn off the gas once it is well thickened and garnish with cardamom powder and dry fruits.

Grease a flat plate with little bit of ghee. Pour the porridge while it is hot. Spread it uniformly on the plate using a spoon or a knife. Cover the plate with a lid and let it cool down for an hour. Once it is cooled down, place it in the refrigerator for further cooling. After an hour, the porridge is ready to be served. It is not very thick like a cake, but semi-fluid. Cut it into bite sized pieces and serve. 

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.

Mango Raita (आंब्याचे रायते)

This is a traditional Goan dish, prepared with Ghota (sweet-sour local variety of mangoes). These mangoes are called as Raiwal in Maharashtra.

This is a quick and super easy dish.

Ingredients:
4-5 local mangoes or ghota
Jaggery, about 3:4 proportion, may vary based on sourness of the mangoes
1/2 tbsp mustard powder
1 cup freshly grated coconut
2-3 green chillies
salt to taste

Servings:
3-4 people

Extract pulp from the mangoes. Leave the mango seeds aside. In a mixer, add the remaining ingredients and grind well. Mix this paste with mango pulp. Stir well. Now add the mango seeds to this. Your dish is ready to serve.

Adjust the jaggery proportion depending on the taste of mangoes. If the mangoes are very sour, you may need to add more jaggery.

Optionally you can season it with 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds, a pinch of asafoetida, curry leaves and turmeric powder.

Do not boil the mixture. This is consumed fresh and raw.

Thai coconut Curry (थाई करी)

I love thai food, the curries, salads, starters and peanut sauce ! I searched thai recipes on the net, but each of the recipe used fish sauce or some other non vegetarian condiment. After a while, I gave up searching and thought it is best to eat thai in a restaurant.

I was discussing thai food with my aunt. She told me an amazing recipe for thai coconut curry. She is vegetarian like me. She said she modified the ingredients to suit her taste.

Ingredients:

5-6 lemongrass leaves

1 1/2 tsp ginger-garlic-chilli paste

1/2 cup broccoli florests, chopped

1/2 cup babycorn, sliced

1/2 cup paneer cubes (optional)

1/4 cup peas

1/4 cup carrot, chopped

1/2 cup capsicum

2 cups coconut, grated

1 tbsp coconut milk powder (for added flavor)

salt as per taste

For seasoning:

2 tsp oil

Servings: 

4-5 people

Prepare lemongrass paste by adding little water. Strain the paste and keep aside. Adjust the chillies in the ginger-garlic-chilli paste to suit your taste buds. Extract coconut milk from the grated coconut, about 1 1/2 - 2 cups. In a kadhai, heat oil and saute ginger-garlic-chilli paste. Once the paste is stir fried, add vegetables of your choice. Cook for few minutes. Add lemongrass paste and salt. Add little water to cook the vegetables. Once the vegetables are slightly cooked, add coconut milk. In a bowl, dissolve coconut milk powder in sufficient water. Add this mixture to the kadhai. Let it simmer for a few minutes. Do not overcook it. Serve with hot steaming fragrant rice. 

Stuffed Bittergourd (भरलेलं कारलं)

Stuffed bittergourd is one of my favourite preparation of this vegetable. I found this recipe here and decided to try it out. I normally use coconut and groundnut based stuffing. I will make a separate entry for that recipe next time I make it.

Ingredients:
1/4 kg karela or bittergourd (5-6 small ones)

For stuffing:
1 medium sized onion
1/2 cup dry coconut
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2-3 tamarind pieces, soaked in water
jaggery as per taste
1/2 tsp chilli powder
salt as per taste

For seasoning:
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of asafoetida
1/2 tsp turmeric

Servings:
3 people

 Wash the bittergourds thoroughly and give a vertical slit along the vertical line. Do not cut into two pieces. Remove the seeds inside the gourd. Sprinkle salt over the slit bittergourds, mixing them well and leave them aside for 1/2 hour.

In a kadhai, dry roast dry coconut, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and fennel seeds separately. Once it is cooled down, grind it together with all other ingredients listed for stuffing. Make a thick paste for the stuffing.

Stuff karelas with the stuffing and tie a thread around to keep it together. Heat oil in the pan and add mustard seeds and asafoetida and haldi. Next add the stuffed karelas and stir them to coat with oil. Add the remaining paste to the pan. Add sufficient water and cover it with lid. After about 5-7 minutes, turn the karelas over. Again cover with lid and let it cook for another 7-8 minutes.

I carved the inside of an onion and stuffed it with leftover stuffing paste and added it to the pan while cooking karelas.

Coconut Chutney (नारळाची चटणी)

Coconut chutney can be made in a variety of ways. This chutney uses daria dal (split gram dal) or daale in marathi.


Ingredients:
1/2 cup freshly grated coconut
1 tbsp roasted daria dal (daaLe)
2 green chillies
1 1/2 cup coriander leaves
2-3 garlic cloves
1 tsp of tamarind pulp or lemon juice
salt as per taste
sugar as per taste

Combine all ingredients and grind them in a mixer. This chutney goes well with idli, dhirde, ghavan or any other flat bread.