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)

Bhogichi Bhaji (भोगीची भाजी)

 Bhogi marks the beginning of Uttarayan. It is celebrated one day before Makar Sankranti. A special vegetable preparation is made on Bhogi day. I learnt this recipe from one of my friends.

Ingredients:
1/4 kg variety of beans - Field beans (पावटा), Green peas (मटार), Valor beans (पापडी), Green chickpeas (हरभरा)
2 small brinjal, diced (वांगी)
1 large potato, diced (बटाटा)
1 carrot, diced (गाजर)
6-8 jujube berry (बोरं )

Masala:
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1/4 cup grated coconut or dried coconut
1/2 tbsp roasted groundnut powder
1 tsp garam masala
2 tsp tamarind pulp (soak tamarind for half an hour and make the pulp)
salt as per taste
jaggery as per taste
2 tsp mustard
a pinch of asafoetida
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil (A little more than usual)

Servings: 4-5 people

Dry roast sesame seeds and grated coconut. After it cools down, grind together in a mixer. Clean all the beans and wash thoroughly. In a large kadhai, heat oil and do the regular seasoning with mustard seeds, asafoedtida and turmeric powder. Now add carrots and all the beans and stir well. Let it steam for 1-2 minutes. Now add brinjal and potato and stir fry. Add sufficient water (around 1 cup) for cooking the vegetables. Along with water, add salt, jaggery, garam masala, sesame-coconut powder, groundnut powder, tamarind pulp. Adjust the water for required consistency of the gravy. It tastes good as dry vegetable as well as gravy. Cook it for 10-15 minutes until all vegetables are cooked. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve this vegetable with hot Bajri bhakri with a dollop of homemade butter.

Shrikhand (श्रीखंड)

For a long time, I thought making Shrikhand at home was a long procedure. A very dear friend of mine, Ambi, told me a simplified version of making Shrikhand. This is a traditional Maharashtrian dish, prepared on the auspicious Gudi Padwa - Marathi New Year.

I made two flavors of Shrikhand - Kesar Pista and Mango flavor (Amrakhand).

Ingredients:
800 gms of readymade yogurt (I used Danon)
Approx 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

For Kesar Pista flavor
8-10 strands of saffron, soaked in 1 tbsp of milk
1 tsp of pista powder

For mango flavor
3/4 cup mango pulp

For Garnishing

1/2 tbsp of cardamom powder

chopped cashew nuts and almonds for garnish

Servings:
5 people

Transfer the store bought yogurt into a clean muslin cloth and tie a firm knot. Hang it overnight from the tap or nail to leave thick chakka.  You can collect the juice dripping from the yogurt. This is called Piyush. It is considered to be a healthy drink.

Next morning, untie the muslin cloth and scoop out the thick chakka into  a vessel. Divide this chakka into two - one for kesar-pista flavor and another for mango flavor. (I divided it unequally into 1:2, as mango flavored Shrikhand is favorite in our house).

For Kesar Pista Flavor:
Take equal quantity of chakka and powdered sugar (or reduce the sugar content slightly, as per your taste). Grind these into a mixer along with milk soaked saffron, pista powder.

For Mango or Amrakhanda Flavor:
I used approximately 3/4 cup of pulp for 1 cup of chakka.  Add about 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Mix together chakka, sugar with mango pulp. Grind in a mixer.

Garnish both flavors with cardamom powder and chopped nuts. Serve with hot puris or chapati.

Note:
You can use home-made curd instead of store bought pack. I thought this was simpler to do in terms of quick execution. 

Moong Dal Curry (मूग डाळीची आमटी)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Moong dal, boiled
4-5 Garlic cloves
1 medium sized tomato, wedged
2-3 green chilies
coriander leaves for garnish
salt as per taste
1 tsp of jaggery or as per taste

For Seasoning:
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds or Jeera
1 tsp Ghee or oil
a pinch of Asafoetida or hing
1/2 tsp of turmeric

Servings:
3 people

Boil moong dal in a pressure cooker, adding sufficient water. Keep it aside for cooling. In a kadhai, add ghee or oil. Season with jeera, asafoetida. Add chopped garlic cloves, turmeric and stir for a minute. Next add tomato wedges and let it cook for 5 minutes.  Now add the cooked moong dal. Season with salt and jaggery. Let is simmer for 5-10 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves and lemon juice.

Spring Onion Bhaji (कांदा पातीची भाजी)

Ingredients:
Spring Onion/Kanda paat 1 bunch - chopped
 1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp chilli powder
salt as per taste
jaggery as per taste
Freshly grated coconut for garnish

For Seasoning:
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard
a pinch of asafoetida
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder

Servings:
3 people

Wash and cut spring onion. In a kadhai, heat oil and add mustard to it. Once the mustard seeds start to pop, add asafoetida. Now add chopped spring onion and turmeric. Stir well and cover with lid. Let it simmer for 2 minutes. The spring onion will get cooked. Next add garam masala, chilli powder and salt and jaggery. Stir well and simmer until the jaggery is dissolved and masala, chilli powder are mixed well in the vegetable. Garnish with freshly grated coconut.

Optionally, you can add about 1 tbsp of gram flour or besan once the vegetable is cooked and mix well. Simmer for 2 minutes. Garnish with coconut before serving.

Gram flour curry (Pithale) (पीठले)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup gram flour or besan
1 medium sized onion
3-4 cloves of garlic

2-3 kokam or aamsul pieces
finely cut coriander leaves  for garnish
freshly grated coconut for garnish
1 1/2 cup of boiled water
salt
sugar (optional, as per taste)

For seasoning:
oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of asafoetida
1/4 tsp turmeric
7-8 curry leaves
2-3 cut pieces of green chillies (or as per taste)

Servings:
3 people

Heat oil in kadhai. Add mustard seeds, asafoetida, curry leaves, chillies and turmeric to the oil. Next add vertically sliced pieces of onion. Fry till slightly golden brown. In the meantime, add gram flour and just enough water to mix gram flour. Dissolve lumps of flour, if any. It should form a thick batter.
Once the onion is fried, add boiled water to the kadhai. Drop kokam pieces in the boiling water. Season it with salt and sugar. Now slowly pour the gram flour batter into the kadhai, stirring continuously to avoid any lumps. The mixture thickens quickly. Keep stirring till flour batter is mixed well in the curry. Keep the lid on and simmer for a minute. Turn off the heat. Garnish with grated coconut and coriander leaves.

This curry is served with Jowar or Bajra or Raagi Bhakri. It also tastes well with hot steaming rice.