Undhiyo (उंधियो) - Vegetable Stew

 Winter months are lazy months. Cold weather restricts outdoor activities and everyone seems to be always hungry at home this time. I prefer one pot meals and usually have some soup preparation ready in the freezer to thaw and use.

Sankrant is a winter time festival. It is celebrated in different places and each region has their own special food prepared during winter months. In Gujarat, they prepare undhiyo - a winter special dish made using assorted vegetables available locally. A variety of root vegetables are used in this recipe.

Undhiyo needs elaborate preparation but it is totally worth making it. This was my first attempt at it and everyone in the house loved this dish. I plan to make this at least once every winter.

Undhiyo has multiple layers of assorted vegetables. There is elaborate preparation to be done. 

Keep below spice powders ready to cut down on total cooking time.

Green chili paste - wash and cut green chillies and blend it to form a paste.

Ginger paste - wash and cut ginger and blend it to form a paste. Add little water for grinding, if needed.

Garlic paste - wash and cut garlic and blend it to form a paste. Add little water for grinding, if needed.

Cumin powder - dry roast and powder cumin seeds

Coriander powder - dry roast and powder coriander seeds

Servings:

6 people

Ingredients:

For Methi Muthiya:

1 cup besan or chickpea flour

1 1/2 cup methi or fenugreek leaves, cleaned and chopped

1 tsp ginger paste

1 tsp garlic paste

1.5 tsp green chili paste

2 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp cumin seed powder

3 tsp coriander seed powder

1 tsp turmeric

salt as per taste

 Knead all ingredients together and roll into balls. Heat oil in a kadhai and deep fry these balls on a medium flame. Alternatively, you can also air fry them using minimum oil.

For Vegetable gravy:

4 small eggplants or brinjal

2 raw banana or plantains - do not remove the peel or skin.

1 medium sized purple yam

1 medium sized elephant yam

6-8 baby potatoes

1 medium sized sweet potato

3 cups of assorted Indian beans - Surati Papadi, Val papadi, (flat beans, broad beans, fava beans) - cleaned and cut 

Ingredients for vegetable gravy masala:

2 cups fresh garlic greens - cleaned and chopped

2 cups cilantro or coriander leaves - cleaned and chopped

3 cups of freshly grated coconut

1.5 tbsp sesame seeds

2 tsp ginger past

2 tsp garlic paste

1 tbsp chilli paste

1 tbsp coriander seed powder

1/2 tbsp cumin seed powder

1 tsp ajjwain or carrom seeds

1 tsp turmeric powder

Salt as per taste

For gravy:

Gravy Stuffing: 

Add all ingredients for vegetable gravy masala together. Set it aside for a few minutes while you prepare vegetables for the gravy. This gravy masala will be used as a stuffing in vegetables and will also be used for flavoring the gravy.

Preparing the vegetables: 

Divide the gravy masala stuffing into 4 portions. You will use it to stuff some vegetables, and for few other vegetables, this will be used to marinate and add flavoring.

Slit open eggplant, do not cut it open all the way. It is cut similar to when making stuffed eggplant. Add gravy masala stuffing in the slit, just enough to keep the eggplant together without breaking into two pieces. Cut raw banana into two horizontal pieces and slit open each raw banana piece and add the gravy masala stuffing. For assorted beans, mix together gravy masala with beans and let it marinate for 5-10 minutes. For the remaining vegetables, add the left over gravy masala and mix it together.

Seasoning:

1.5 tbsp oil

1 tsp hing or asafoetida

1 tsp carrom seeds

Layering:

Make sure you use a large vessel to cook, the pot needs to be big enough to hold all the vegetable preparations.

In a large pot, you will layer all these vegetables together and slow cook the stew. First you need to do regular oil seasoning. Heat the pot and add oil. Once the oil is heated, add hing and carrom seeds. Next we will layer the vegetables one by one. First goes assorted Indian beans, then add stuffed raw bananas, followed by sweet potato, potato, yam and eggplant. Add fried methi muthia (fenugreek balls) on the top layer.

Add about a cup of water mixed with salt, sugar, turmeric and ajjwain and pour it on this layered mixture. Cover the pot with a lid.

Cook this on medium flame for about 40-45 minutes. Alternatively you can pressure cook this for 2 whistles. 

This gravy goes very well with rice or chapati/millet bhakri or any type of flat bread. It stays good for 2-3 days in the refrigerator.

Note:

You can add any other vegetable such as ivy gourd, carrot or any other vegetable that goes well in a stew.

Dil rice (शेपू भात)

Summer months are busy months in my household. We grow vegetable garden and love to spend time taking care of it. Some plants do well, while some just remain as unsuccessful experiments. 

One side effect of growing vegetables is you have surplus vegetables in the house. Week on week, sometimes you get same produce or harvest. The real challenge is coming up with creative dishes to use this bountiful harvest so you are not repeating the same dishes each time. 

Dil (शेपू) is not a popular vegetable in my house but it is growing well in my garden. This time I decided to use most of the leftover vegetables from my harvest and came up with this dish. It feels amazing to have a shorter farm to table turnaround time. Feel free to change vegetables in the recipe as per your choice or their availability.

Servings: 3 people

Ingredients:

10-12 stems of Dil (शेपू), washed and chopped

2-3 garlic cloves or tender garlic shoots

A bunch of green onion shoots, chopped

2 medium sized tomatoes, diced

1/4 cup green pigeon peas (tuvar) (optional)

1/4 cup peas

1/4 cup carrot, diced

1 cup rice, washed and soaked

8-10 cashew nuts

Salt as per taste

Seasoning:

2 tbsp oil

a pinch of asafoetida

1 tsp cumin seeds

crushed pepper

Wash rice and soak them for half an hour. Drain the water after half an hour and keep it aside. In a pot, boil 2 cups of water. I use brown rice hence the water quantity is doubled. If you are using any other type of rice, adjust the water accordingly. Usually rice to water proportion is 1:1 or 1:1.5 based on type of rice.

While the water is boiling, we will saute all the vegetables together. For this, in a heated kadhai, add oil and season with asafoetida, cumin seeds and crushed pepper. Adjust the pepper as per your taste. Add garlic and cashew nuts. Saute for a couple of minutes till the cashews turn slight brown and garlic is well fried. Add chopped green onions and stir fry for 5 minutes. Next add diced tomatoes and mix in. Let the tomatoes cook for 5-7 minutes. Add remaining vegetables like diced carrots, peas and chopped dil leaves. Mix all vegetables and stir for 5 minutes. Add drained rice and mix together. Stir for 7-10 minutes and add boiling water to this mixture. Add salt and cook until rice is well cooked.

Serve with a teaspoon of ghee (optional).

Puffed Rice Balls (चुरमुऱ्याचे लाडू)

 While growing up, this was one of the readily available snack at my place. These are easy to make and require just two main ingredients - Puffed rice and Jaggery.

Ingredients:

1 cup jaggery grated

approximately 3 cups of puffed rice

cardamom powder for flavor

2 tbsp peanut powder (optional)

Serving: makes around 25-30 medium sized balls

In a heated kadhai (pan), add grated jaggery. Stir it until jaggery melts completely. You can add cardamom powder and peanut powder once jaggery is melted. Turn off the heat and add puffed rice slowly. Add little puffed rice, stir it together and add some more. Adjust puffed rice portion until the jaggery syrup coats the rice well. Adding little by little quantity of puffed rice will help coat the puffed rice well with syrup.

Start rolling this mixture into balls (ladoo) while the syrup is warm. Make bite sized balls. If the mixture thickens up and you are unable to roll them into balls, warm the mixture on low flame for couple of minutes until the mixture is loosened and you are able to roll it again.

Store them into airtight container.  

Puris - three way

I rarely fry at home. It is usually limited to special occasions like birthdays, Diwali or Gudi Padwa. It is winter time and the temperatures are dipping. My teenage daughter likes fried food. So I gave in to her food choice and decided to make puris today. Now that I have decided to fry puris, how can I make them a bit healthier? I used wheat flour instead of refined flour and decided to add vegetables.

My fridge had all the vegetables in stock and it was easy for me to choose vegetables for puri. I used spinach (Palak) and Kasuri Methi for one puri variety. Beet root is one of my least favorite vegetable. I know it is a great source of iron so why not use it in Puris? That was my second variety - Beet root puris. For the third variety, I chose carrot (Gajar). Beet root and carrot both are root vegetables and sweet to taste. I decided to make one sweet variety and the other two savory.

So, here is Puri recipe - three way.

Ingredients:
For carrot puris:
1 large carrot - boiled and mashed,

1/2 cup of sugar,

A pinch of salt

1 cup wheat flour

water to knead the dough

For spinach puris:
1 cup of spinach leaves - blanched and cut finely,

1 tbsp of sesame seeds,

1 tbsp of carrom seeds (Ajwain),
1/2 tbsp Kasuri methi,
1 tsp chili powder,
1 tsp garam masala,
Salt as per taste,
1 tbsp besan flour,
1/2 tsp fenugreek powder (Methi) (optional)
3/4 cup wheat flour,
1 tbsp yogurt,
water to knead the dough

For beetroot puris:
1 medium sized beetroot - peeled, boiled and mashed,
1 tbsp of sesame seeds,
1 tsp chili powder,
1/2 tsp fenugreek powder (Methi) (optional),
1 tsp chili powder,
salt as per taste,
3/4 cup wheat flour,
1 tbsp yogurt,
water to knead the dough

Oil for frying

Cut carrot, boil it and drain the water. Mash the boiled carrots. You can retain this boiled vegetable water for soups. In a flat vessel,  add sugar to the mashed carrots, a pinch of salt and add wheat flour slowly. Mix little wheat flour and keep kneading. Add more wheat flour to get dough consistency. The dough is soft like paratha dough. Keep it covered for 15 minutes. Make small balls and keep it ready for rolling.

Peel beet root, cut it into pieces and boil. Drain the water from beet root and store it for vegetable stock or soups. Mash the boiled beetroot. Take a separate plate or a flat vessel for mixing this dough. Add sesame seeds, chili powder, fenugreek powder, yogurt and salt. Mix it well and slowly start adding wheat flour. Keep mixing and add more water if needed to get a good dough. Adjust water and wheat flour to get the right dough consistency - like paratha or chapati dough. Keep it covered for 15 minutes. Make small balls and keep it ready for rolling.

Blanch spinach and chop it fine. In a separate bowl or plate, mix spinach with kasuri methi, sesame seeds, carrom seeds, chili powder, garam masala, fenugreek powder, yogurt, salt and besan flour. Mix it well. Add little by little wheat flour, mixing it well. Add more wheat flour or water as needed to get the right dough consistency. Keep it covered for 15 minutes. Make small balls and keep it ready for rolling.

Keep two separate kadhais for frying puris - one for sweet carrot puris and the other for savory beetroot and spinach puris. Heat kadhai and add oil. Keep the flame on medium and start rolling puris. I chose to finish rolling sweet puris first and then started rolling savory puris. Once the oil is hot, test the oil by putting a tiny portion of the dough in boiling oil. It should come up to the surface instantly. This means the oil is well heated for frying. Fry all varieties of puris and let it cool down. Once cooled down, store them in tight air lid containers.

Tip: If you want to make these puris vegan, skip the yogurt and just use water for kneading the dough.

You can have these puris as snacks or with a vegetable gravy as meals. They stay fresh for at least a week (that is if they are not finished by then). :)

Enjoy!

Mushroom Masala ( अळंबीची भाजी )

I started enjoying mushrooms recently. I have not experimented much with mushrooms yet, this is the only dish I cook. All these years, I never cooked them, for some reason, I thought they were heavy to digest. I remember eating mushroom flavored dish in a restaurant long back and having a tummy upset. Ever since then, I did not have mushrooms, even while ordering a dish at a restaurant, I would specifically ask them not to add mushrooms!
I am trying to cut dairy and oil from my diet, relying solely on plant based food to get all the nourishment. While doing grocery shopping, my husband picked mushrooms few months back, and I thought, "why not give it another try?"

So here I am, enjoying mushroom gravy now :)

I have used water based seasoning for this recipe, you can use oil instead, if you want to.

Ingredients:
6-8 white mushrooms, sliced
2 tomatoes, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp garam masala,
salt as per taste,
jaggery as per taste (optional)
coriander leaves for garnish

for grinding:
1/4 cup grated coconut,
a handful of cashew nuts, soaked
1/2 tsp jeera,


for seasoning:
2 tbsp water,
1/2 tsp mustard seeds,
a pinch of asafoetida,
1/2 tsp cumin or jeera,
1/2 tsp turmeric,
5-6 curry leaves
3-4 green chillies,
1/2 tsp grated ginger,
10-15 cashew nut pieces,

Serving: 2-3 people

In a heated kadhai (pan) add water for the seasoning. When the water starts bubbling up, add mustard seeds, asafoetida and jeera. Let it simmer for a minute. Add rest of the seasoning ingredients and cover it with lid for another minute. Now add chopped onion and mix well. Let it cook for 2 minutes, covering the pan with lid. Next, add diced tomatoes and stir. Let the tomatoes cook for 5 minutes. Add garam masala and sliced mushrooms. Cook for few more minutes. Next add salt, jaggery as per your taste and let the gravy simmer for some time until mushrooms are almost cooked.
Grind together coconut, cashew nuts and jeera with little bit of water to form a chutney consistency mixture. Add this coconut mixture to the simmering gravy. Adjust water in the gravy to get the required consistency. Simmer for 8-10 minutes. The curry will thicken with coconut and cashew paste mixture.

Enjoy this curry as a side dish or with rice or chapati. It goes well with bread too.

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. 

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. 

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.

Roasted assorted vegetables (रोस्टेड भाज्या)

I love to roast vegetables. My new favourite way to cook veggies! Super easy, simple, healthy and very tasty dish. You can use any vegetables that you may have at home.

Ingredients:
1 sweet potato
1 medium zucchini
1-2 carrots
5-6 asparagus stalks
1 large potato
1-2 tsp olive oil
4-5 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp Italian seasoning
salt as per taste
2 tsp pepper powder
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Servings:
3 people

Wash all the vegetables thoroughly. Cut potato, zucchini, sweet potato into round slices about 1-1 1/2 inches thick. Cut carrots and asparagus stalks into bite sized pieces.

Preheat oven to 400 degree Fahrenheit. In a flat oven dish, line aluminium foil to roast the vegetables. You can also roast them directly on the oven plate. Mix olive oil, garlic cloves, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Now add all the vegetables into the oil mix and coat them well. Leave it aside for marination for 5-10 minutes. Pour all the vegetables in the oven dish.

Place the vegetables in the oven and roast for 30-40 minutes. After every 10-15 minutes, turn the vegetables to uniformly heat them in the oven. Once the vegetables turn slightly brown black, turn the oven off and leave it inside for additional 10 minutes to roast.

This is a great side dish with either rice or chapati.

Apple & dried cranberry chutney (सफरचंद व सुक्या क्रेनबेरीजची चटणी)

I found this recipe on this website. I modified it a bit based on what was available at home. It is very quick and easy to make recipe

Ingredients: 

2 apples (I used Fuji apples)

a fist full of dried cranberries

1 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp sesame seeds

1 1/2 tsp cumin or jeera powder

3 tsp coriander or dhaniya powder

salt as per taste

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp oil

Servings: 3-4 people

Peel the apples and cut them into small cubes. In a hot frying pan or kadhai, add oil and roast sesame seeds for a minute. Next add apple cubes and stir well. Cover with a lid. After 5 minutes, add the remaining ingredients other than salt and mix well. Cover with lid and let it cook on medium flame for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, apples will become soft. Mash it lightly using spoon and stir together. Simmer for another 5-10 minutes and chutney is ready to serve. 

This chutney can be served with bread, or used as a sandwich spread.  You can also have it as a side dish with chapati.

Kale greens with besan flour (पीठ पेरून हिरव्या केलची भाजी)

I tried cooking kale greens using Maharashtrian or Marathi ways. I used besan or chickpea flour with kale greens.

Ingredients:

1 bunch Kale greens (about 10-12 leaves),

1 small onion, vertically sliced

3-4 garlic cloves, chopped finely

1/2 tsp chilly powder

1 1/2 tsp olive oil or any cooking oil

salt as per taste

1 1/2 tbsp besan or chickpea flour

Wash kale leaves thoroughly and drain the water. Cut the thick stems from the kale greens and chop the leaves into smaller chunks. 

Heat a kadhai on the gas stove. Add olive oil once the kadhai is hot. Add garlic cloves and sliced onion and saute them until onion is golden or brown. Next add kale greens and give it a good stir. Cook kale greens in 1 cup of water. Add chilly powder and cover with lid. Let it simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt and let it cook for another 10 minutes. Now sprinkle besan or chickpea flour and mix well. With closed lid, let it cook for another 5-6 minutes. 

Kale greens vegetable can be served with Chapati or with rice as a side dish. 

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.

Tomato Onion Salad (कांदा टोमेटोची कोशिंबीर)

Ingredients:
1 medium sized tomato
1 small onion
1/4 tsp grated ginger
1 chilly
1 tbsp roasted peanut powder (optional)
freshly grated coconut
coriander for garnish
salt as per taste
a pinch of sugar

Serving: 3 people

Finely chop tomato and onion. In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients and salad is ready to serve.

You can optionally add 1 tbsp of yogurt.

Cauliflower Carrot Vegetable (फ्लॉवर-गाजर भाजी)

Ingredients:
1 cup cauliflower florets, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup carrots, diced
little bit of ginger, julienne
1/2 tsp of cumin-coriander powder
salt as per taste
1/4 cup freshly grated coconut
1 tsp lemon juice

For seasoning:
1 1/2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of asafoetida
7-8 curry leaves
2 chillies, cut
1/2 tsp turmeric

Servings: 4 people

In a kadhai, heat oil for seasoning. Once the oil is heated, add mustard seeds, a pinch of asafoetida. Once the mustard seeds start spluttering, add curry leaves, chillies and turmeric. Give it a stir. Now add cauliflower florets and carrots. Mix well. Add little bit of water and cover with lid. Add salt, cumin-coriander powder, grated coconut and ginger. Let it cook on low flame for 5-10 minutes until the carrots and cauliflower is cooked. Add lemon juice once the vegetable is cooked and ready to serve.

Spinach Flatbread (पालकाची भाकरी)

I read this in a recipe book and found it very interesting. I have never tried mixing anything with jowar or any other grain flours other than wheat. It turned out to be very tasty.

Ingredients:
a small bunch of palak or spinach leaves
1 1/2 tsp roasted jeera
3-4 garlic cloves
2 green chillies
1 1/2 tbsp besan or gram flour
1 1/2 cup jowar flour or multigrain bhakri flour (mix of raagi, bajra, jowar flour)
salt as per taste

Servings:
4-5 bhakris

Wash spinach leaves thoroughly. In a pan, add spinach leaves and cook for 2-3 minutes until the leaves start wilting. Turn off the gas and let it cool for 5-10 minutes. Grind together wilted spinach leaves, green chillies, cloves, roasted jeera. In a flat plate, mix together gram flour, paste of spinach with other ingredients, salt and add bhakri flour slowly. Keep mixing and kneading. Adjust the flour or water to make a smooth dough. Divide the dough into 4-5 round balls.

Procedure to make bhakri:
Dust some flour on a ball. Using your palms and a flat surface, lightly  press the dough ball and rotate it. Sprinkle more flour if the dough is sticking to your palm or the flat surface. Keep pressing and rotating until you get a nice round chapati sized bhakri. Take a flat pan and heat it on medium flame. Using a spatula, slowly lift the bhakri and carefully place it on the pan. Turn the flame to maximum and spread some water on the top surface of the bhakri. Let it cook for 1-2 minutes, taking care not to burn the bottom surface of the bhakri. Flip the bhakri, allowing the surface on which you had spread water to cook. After a minute, take the pan off the flame using a pair of tongs and invert the bhakri and place it directly on the flame. Bhakri will begin to puff up. Turn the bhakri again and cook the other side of the bhakri. Serve hot bhakri with fresh home made butter and vegetables of your choice. Bhakri goes very well with gravy vegetables.