Dry Veg Manchurian (व्हेज मंचुरियन)

Ingredients:
For the fillets:
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 capsicum, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
3-4 green chilies
1/2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
salt as per taste

For the batter:
6-8 cloves of garlic
1/2 inch ginger or 1/2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
3 green chilies
1/4 tsp pepper powder
salt as per taste
2 tbsp all purpose flour (maida)
1 tbsp corn flour

For the seasoning:
1 1/2 tsp corn flour
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
2 tsp oil
3-4 spring onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup capsicum, finely chopped
1/4 cup beans, cut length wise
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1 1/2 tsp vinegar
1 tsp chili sauce
1/2 tsp soy sauce
 salt as per taste

Servings: 4-5 people

Mix together all purpose flour and corn flour with very little water to form a thick batter. In a mixer, grind together ginger, garlic and green chilies. Add the ginger-garlic-chili paste to the batter along with salt, pepper powder. Mix it well into a thick batter.

In a mixer, coarsely grind capsicum, onion and capsicum. Do not make it into a fine paste, it should look like shredded veggies. Alternatively, you can finely chop all these ingredients. Mix the shredded vegetables with ginger-garlic paste and salt.

Heat oil in a kadhai. Add the vegetable fillets to the batter and deep fry till golden brown. Keep the fried fillets aside.

In a flat kadhai, heat oil and season with ginger-garlic paste. Keep the flame on high while cooking this sauce. Add spring onion and stir fry. Next add capsicum and beans and keep stirring. Add soy sauce, vinegar, chili sauce and tomato sauce. Stir well. Adjust the salt based on salt content of the soy sauce and chili sauce. Make a paste of corn flour with water and once the vegetables are half cooked, add corn flour paste to the pan. It will start thickening immediately. Stir continuously. Adjust the water in the sauce based on fried fritters. The sauce needs to be sufficient to coat the fritters. Once the sauce has thickened, add the fritters and stir well for 2-3 minutes. Turn off the gas. Garnish with chopped spring onion. Manchurian is ready to serve.

Note: You can add 1/2 cup shredded cabbage to the fillet. I did not have cabbage when I made this recipe, so I didn't add it.

Moong Sprouts Salad (मोड आलेल्या मुगाची कोशिंबीर )

I had a bowl of moong sprouts, leftover after making moong usal. I tried making Thai bean sprouts salad using these sprouts. I did not have soy sauce and palm sugar at home. I added lemon juice for some sour flavor. Next time, I will try adding soy sauce and palm sugar to make it more authentic.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of long sprouts (moong or any other beans)
1/2 cup capsicum, diced
1-2 spring onion greens, chopped
1/4 cup roasted peanuts, coarsely pounded
1/2 tsp olive oil for mixing
1/4 tsp pepper powder or chilly powder
1/2 tsp lemon juice or soy sauce

seasoning:
3-4 garlic cloves, cut finely
1/4 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp oil

Servings: 3-4 people

Lightly toss together all the ingredients, except the seasoning. In a small seasoning kadhai, heat oil and saute garlic cloves and sesame seeds. Turn off the gas and let it cool a bit. Mix the seasoning with the tossed salad. Refrigerate and serve chilled.

Next time I will try making this salad with bean sprouts and will add soy sauce and palm sugar. 

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.