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.

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. 

Caramalized Fig (भाजलेले अंजीर)

I wanted to try grilling figs for a long time. I used a pan to grill the figs. This is a very simple and quick dish.

Ingredients:
4 figs, halved
little bit of honey for garnishing
little bit of cheese for garnishing

Servings: 3 people

Heat a flat pan and place halved figs on it, cut side facing the pan. After a couple of minutes, turn them to grill the other side of the figs, the skin part. Once it is well grilled from both sides, turn off the gas. Drizzle the figs with honey and serve. You can top it with blue cheese for garnish.

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.