Capsicum Besan Vegetable (पीठ पेरून सिमला मिरची)

Ingredients:
1/4 kg capsicum,
1/2 onion, vertically sliced
1/2 cup chana dal  or Besan flour,
1/2 tsp garam masala (optional)

For Seasoning:
2 tsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds,
a pinch of asafoetida,
1/4 tsp turmeric powder,
2-3 green chillies, vertically sliced
salt as per taste
1 tsp of jaggery (optional)

Servings: 3 people

Cut capsicum into medium sized pieces. Discard the seeds of the capsicum. Cut onion vertically. In a hot pan, add oil. Season with mustard seeds, asafoetida, turmeric powder, green chillies. Saute onion for 2 minutes. Next add capsicum pieces. Mix well. Cover with a lid and let it cook for 3-4 minutes. Add salt and jaggery (optional). Stir well and cook on low flame for another 5 minutes. Now sprinkle chana dal or Besan flour and mix well until the capsicum is uniformly coated with besan flour. If the vegetable looks very dry after adding besan flour, add about 1/2 tsp of oil to the pan.  Simmer for 8-10 minutes until the besan flour is cooked, stirring a few times in between to avoid burning the vegetable.

Serve with chapati or rice and dal as a side dish.

Bottlegourd Thalipeeth (दुधी भोपळ्याचे थालीपीठ)

Ingredients:
1 cup grated bottle gourd, peel the skin of the gourd
2 1/2 cups of assorted flours (Jowar, Bajra, Rice, Besan, Wheat, Ragi)
OR
2 1/2 cups of Thalipeeth Bhajani (readymade thalipeeth flour from the store)
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
salt as per taste
1 tbsp oil for roasting

Servings: 3 thalipeeth

Peel the bottle gourd, remove seeds if present and grate about 1 cup of gourd. In a flat plate, mix the grated bottle gourd with assorted flours or use readymade thalipeeth bhajani flour. If you are using assorted flour, you can mix jowar, bajra, rice, besan, wheat, ragi flours, all of them or whichever you have at home. The proportion of bajra, besan, rice is approximately 1/2 cup together. You can mix the remaining flours of jowar, rice, wheat, ragi in any proportion. I prefer to use less of wheat and rice since these two grains are consumed in the form of chapati or rice.

Mix all the listed ingredients except oil and knead into a dough. Add little bit water, if needed while kneading the dough. Very little water needs to be added to the dough since the bottle gourd has sufficient water content. Divide the dough into 3-4 balls.

Take a flat pan and heat it on medium flame. Using palms and a flat surface or a clean plastic sheet, lightly press the dough ball. Use little bit of oil to prevent it from sticking either to the surface or palms. Continue pressing and turning slightly each time to form a round thalipeeth. Thalipeeth is slightly thicker than chapatis.

Grease the heated pan with 1-2 drops of oil and gently transfer the thalipeeth onto the pan. Make 2-3 small holes on the thalipeeth using a spoon or a knife. Pour a few drops of oil along the surface of the thalipeeth and cover it with lid. Keep the flame on medium. After 3-4 mins, thalipeeth will be roasted on one side and the color will change to slightly brown. Flip thalipeeth to roast and cook the other side for another 5 minutes. Cover it with lid while cooking.

Serve hot thalipeeth with a dollop of home made butter. Serve plain yougurt on the side. 

Bittergourd Vegetable (कारल्याची भाजी)

Ingredients:
1/4 kg bitter gourds,
1 1/2 tsp garam masala,
1/2 tsp chili powder,
1 1/4 tsp tamarind pulp, extracted from soaked tamarind
1/4 cup peanut powder,
freshly grated coconut for garnish

For seasoning:
2 tsp oil, (a little more than regular quantity)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds,
4-5 fenugreek seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric powder

Servings:
3-4 people

Clean bitter gourds by cutting it into half and scoop the seeds out by inserting a knife in the core and turning it in circular fashion. Clean the outer skin by smoothing the rough surface. Cut bitter gourd into round 1" pieces.  Sprinkle some salt over these pieces and cover it with lid. Leave it for 20 minutes. After about 20 minutes, the bitter gourd pieces will turn soft and watery. squeeze the water out of these pieces. This takes away bitterness of the gourd to some extent.

In a kadhai, heat oil and season with mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, turmeric powder. Add bittergourd pieces to the seasoning and mix well.

Falafel (काबुली चण्याची भजी)

Falafel is a very popular Mediterranean dish. Falafel are chick pea fritters.

Ingredients:
1 cup of chickpeas (soaked overnight),
1 medium sized onion,
4-5 garlic cloves,
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, roasted
2 tsp coriander seeds, roasted
2 small red chillies or 1/2 tsp chilli powder,
salt as per taste
1 cup vegetable oil for frying

Servings: 12-15 small fritters

Soak chickpeas overnight and drain the water. Chop onion into small pieces. Mix together all ingredients and grind in a mixer to form a coarse batter. The consistency of the batter should be that of a thick chutney, it should not be runny. The batter should not be  Heat oil in a kadhai. Once the oil is hot, make small balls of the batter and drop them in the hot oil. Fry till golden brown. Serve with either coconut chutney or tomato ketchup.

Traditionally, falafel are stuffed in the pita bread pocket along with a fresh lettuce or any other green salad and chutney.

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.