Black Chickpea Salad (काळ्या छोल्यांची कोशिंबीर)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Black chickpeas, boiled,
1 medium sized tomato, diced
1 medium sized onion, chopped finely
fresh coriander for garnish

Seasoning:
salt as per taste,
ground pepper as per taste,
lemon juice

Boil the black chickpeas in a pressure cooker. Add little salt while boiling. Drain the water once the chickpeas are cooled down. Mix remaining ingredients and the salad is ready to serve.

Tip: Moong, matki and other pulses can also be used in place of black chickpeas.

Corn Upma (मक्याचा उपमा)

Ingredients:
1 cup Semolina (रवा),
1/2 cup corn,
1 onion sliced,
Grated coconut for garnish
chopped coriander leaves for garnish

For Seasoning:
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of asafoetida (हिंग)
1 tsp cumin seeds (जिरं)
5-6 Curry leaves (Optional)
2-3 green chillies, chopped
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt or as per taste
1/4 tsp sugar or as per taste

Servings: 4 people

Dry roast Rava or Semolina in a kadhai. Keep aside.  In a separate vessel, boil 1 cup of water. Keep aside. In the same pan, add vegetable oil and season it with mustard seeds, asafoetida, cumin seeds, curry leaves and green chillies. Stir for a minute. Now add sliced onion and corn. Stir for 5 minutes. Next add boiled water and salt and sugar. Let it cook for 5 minutes, until the corn is almost cooked. Now with one hand, slowly add semolina or rava, stirring continuously with the other hand to avoid formation of any lumps of semolina. Mix well and cover it with lid. After about 2-2 minutes, Upma should be ready. Add lemon juice and mix well. Garnish with freshly grated coconut and coriander leaves.

Onion Curd salad (दही कांदा कोशिंबीर )

Ingredients:
1 large onion, vertically sliced
1-2 green chillies
1/2 cup curd
freshly grated coconut (optional)
salt as per taste
sugar as per taste (optional)
coriander leaves for garnish (optional)
1/2 tbsp groundnut powder (optional)

Servings: 3 people

Cut onion vertically into thin slices. Add salt, sugar, groundnut powder and green chillies to the curd and mix well. To this mixture add sliced onion and grated coconut. Mix together. Garnish with coriander leaves.
 This salad tastes good with chapati or any bhakri - jowar, bajri, raagi etc.

Moong Dal Dosa (मूगाच्या डाळीचे डोसे)

Ingredients:

1 cup moong dal, soaked for 5-6 hours

1/2 cup buttermilk

3-4 green chillies

1 tsp jeera

4-5 garlic cloves

7-8 coriander sprigs

salt as per taste

Servings: 2 people

Drain the water from the soaked moong dal and grind it together with green chillies, jeera, garlic cloves and coriander. Add little buttermilk to grind it to a smooth paste. Add salt to the batter. The batter should be of dosa batter consistency.

Heat a frying pan and grease it well. Add about a ladle full of batter and spread it in round motion. 

This makes about 5-6 small dosas. Serve with coconut chutney or tomato sauce.

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.

Hot and Sweet Raw Mango Pickle (आंबट गोड कैरीचे लोणचे)

Ingredients:
2 cups of raw mango pieces, small pieces
2 cups of jaggery
1 1/2 tsp of chilly powder
14 tsp of salt

In a kadhai, stir raw mango pieces till they turn soft. Add jaggery, chilly powder and salt. Mix it well. Jaggery will start melting and after some time, it will start to thicken up. Simmer for about 20-30 minutes stirring occasionally. Once all the juice is evaporated and a thick sticky gravy is formed, turn off the stove.

Transfer this to an airtight container. This can be kept outside fridge for about a month.

Mango Dal Chutney (कैरीची डाळ)

This chutney is made at the beginning of summer, which coincides with Chaitra, first month of Hindu Calendar. I have fond memories from my childhood of Chaitra Haldi Kumkum at my native place. All the ladies from the village used to come to our place. My aaji and kakis would make this chutney and Panhe (raw mango juice). Along with this chutney, they would serve seasonal fruits from the garden like jackfruit, mangoes, guava, jamuns (jambhala), water apple (jaam).

Ingredients:
1/2 cup chana dal, soaked for 4 hours
3/4 cup grated coconut
1/2 cup raw mango pieces, skin peeled off
1/2 tsp salt or as per taste
1/2 tsp sugar or as per taste
3-4 green chillies
finely cut coriander leaves, for garnish

For seasoning:
2 tsp oil
3/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida
8-10 curry leaves
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2-3 red chillies

Servings:
5-6 people

Drain water out of the soaked chana dal.  Grind together all the ingredients, except coriander leaves which are used for garnish. Grind the mixture coarse. In a small kadhai, do the regular seasoning and pour the seasoning over chutney.