Recipe - Mango pickle

Ingredients
1. Raw Mangoes - 1 kg
2. Small mustard seeds - 2 Tbsp
3. Nigella seeds - 2 Tbsp
4. Fenugreek seeds (Methi dana) - 2Tbsp
5. Chilli powder - 2 Tbsp
6. Tuermeric powder - 1.5 Tbsp
7. Fennel seeds - 2 Tbsp (If you like)
8. Salt - 200 gms
9. Mustard oil (or any edible oil) - 250 gms

Method
1. Wash and cut the raw mongoes in to small pieces. Size can be as big or small as you like
2. Dry them out so there's no water on the pieces
3. Mix all of the ingredients (except oil) with the mango pieces
4. One technique is to keep this mixture in the sun for 2 days so it becomes even more drier but at the same time, the salt melts and the spices release their taste. Do remember to cover with muselin cloth so no dust gets in
5. After 2 days (or immediately if you have not kept the mixture in sun), pour the oil in and mix well again. If you like strong mustard oil taste, then do not heat it. However, if you want a slightly milder taste then warm the oil a little to make it lukewarm and them mix it in the pickle.
6. Store in a glass jar and keep mixing every one or two days. Also ensure that there's at least one centimeter oil on top of the pickle always in the jar. This ensures longer storage.

Restaurant Review - Lai Bhari Kolhapuri, Chinchwad

Lai Bhari Kolhapuri

Location - Chinchwad, Pune.

Ambiance - **
Menu options - **
Taste - ****
Service - ***
Price - ****

Overall - ***

"Lai Bhari Kolhapuri" is located on the Aditya Birla Hospital road in Chincwad. As the name suggests it is a Kolhapuri restaurant. Not a high class restaurant. There are two sections - normal section has tables and chairs while the family section has Indian seating (it's quite comfortable). Lot of photographs from of Kolhapur adorn the walls. Though it's quite a simple restaurant, it's clean (if you are not too fussy about it).

The menu is of course limited to Kolhapuri food. There are different types of Thali available and you can order a la carte as well. In all of the thalis, you get the pandhra rassa and tambda rassa as much as you want. Oh and they also serve solkadi if you want.

We ordered three different types of Thalis. All of them were fantastic. Spicy. And the quantity is definitely enough for one person.

Thali costs around 175 INR.

Overall the experience is fine. Service is good. Ambience lets it down.

Kolhapuri Chicken Thali

Recipe - Chicken curry homestyle

Ingredients -

1. Chicken - 500 gms
2. Curd - 100 gms
3. Red chilli powder - 2 tsp (or as per taste)
4. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
5. Cumin powder - 1 tsp
6. Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
7. Salt - 1.5 tsp (or as per salt)
8. Onion - 2 medium
9. Green chilli - 2 medium
10. Chana daal (split chikpea) - 2 tsp
11. Khaskhas (poppy seeds) - 1 tsp
12. Dry coconut - 4 1 inch pieces (optional)
13. Green coriander - 1/2 cup
14. Chicken masala - 2 tsp (or as per taste)
15. Oil - 1 or 2 Tbsp

Method -

1. Wash the chicken pieces well.
2. Mix the curd, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, Cumin powder, Ginger garlic paste and Salt.
3. Marinate the chicken in this mix and keep it in the refridgerator for an hour.

4. Dry roast green chilli, khaskhas, chana daal, (dry coconut) and onions separately. Cut and clean the coriander.

5. Grind the roasted green chilli, khaskhas and chana daal together to make a dry mix.
6. Make a rough paste of the onion and coriander in the grinder.

7. Heat oil in a pan. Put the dry mix in the oil. Let it cook for 2 min on low flame.
8. Put the onion/coriander paste in the pan and let it cook for about 5 min.

9. Put the chicken in the pan and mix well. Let it cook for 2-3 min. Mix well again.

10. Put chicken masala in it and also pour a cup of water.
11. Cover the pan and let it cook till the chicken is tender and cooked.
12. Serve with chapati and raita

Recipe - Pohe

Ingredients

1. Pohe - (beaten/flattened rice) medium thickness - 100 gms
2. Onion - 1 big
3. Potato - 1 big
4. Green chilli - 2 medium
5. Curry leaves - 10
6. Turmeric - 1 tsp
7. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
8. Green peas/peanuts - handful - optional
9. Salt - as per taste
10. Fresh coriander - for garnish
11. Grated coconut - for garnish

Method
1. Use a sieve to filter and throw out all the smaller bits of pohe

Soaked Pohe

2. Sprinkle water on the pohe and ensure that all of them are wet(don't over do it). Keep away
3. Peel and chop the potato into smaller pieces of thickness of about 2-3 mm. Any thinner than this, and they will get cooked before the onions get cooked
4. Chop the onion and green chilli

5. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok. Put cumin seeds in it followed by green chillies and curry leaves

6. When they are slightly crispy, put in the onions and potatoes together. Mix well and cover. Let them cook on small-medium flame

7. If you want to put green peas or peanuts, this is the time
8. After about 5 min, check if potatoes are cooked. If yes, then put turmeric powder and mix
9. Put the pohe and mix well till all of them are yellow with turmeric
10. Put salt as per taste (around 1 tsp should do it)
11. Cover the wok and cook for 1-2 min
12. Garnish with fresh coriander and grated coconut
13. Serve with a good mango pickle

Tips -

1. Pohe come in three forms usually - thin, medium, thick. For making this dish, the medium or thick version is better as the thin pohe tend to get soggy very quickly while sprinkling water on them
2. Can put some red chilli powder in the dish as well
3. Sprinkle some sugar for garnish if you want. Tastes different

Recipe - Maharashtrian Chivda

Ok, so today I am gonna write the recipe of something that I have always loved eating, but have never attempted to make. Made it for the first time today and it turned out to be quite decent.

Ingredients: Serves many

1. Pohe (rice flakes) - 500 gms
2. Peanut oil - 5 Tab sp
3. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
4. Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
5. Green chillies - 4 big chopped
6. Curry leaves - 20-25
7. Peanuts - half a fistful
8. Split Futane (no idea what it's called in English - xyz nuts) - fistful or more
9. Khas khas (poppy seeds) - 4 tsp
10. Hing (asafoetida) - 1 tsp
11. Coconut dry - 15 pieces thin 0.5 inch long
12. Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
13. Salt - 3-4 tsp (as per taste)
14. Sugar - 2 tsp

Method:

0. Ingredients are shown -

1. Take out all the small bits and powder from the rice flakes using a sieve.

2. Keep in sun light for a few hours to make them a little crispy if possible. 

3. Heat a wok and roast the rice flakes a little to make them crispier. Set aside

4. Heat about 4-5 tablespoons of oil in the wok. Put the mustard & coriander seeds in till they pop. Put chopped green chillies and curry leaves. When they start becoming crispy, put the peanuts and the futane in. Let them cook for about 20-25 seconds on low flame. Put in the poppy seeds and hing. Mix properly and put the turmeric powder. Put the salt in and mix well again.

5. Put this mixture into the roasted rice flakes in a separate pan and mix well. Sprinkle sugar over this and mix. let it cool down before storing it.

6. It stays ok for weeks and is good to eat sprinkled with freshly chopped onions.
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It's come out alright. definitely good for a first try. will modify it as i make it more often.

Recipe - Methi (Fenugreek leaves) Sabzi

Yesterday on the way back when I stopped to buy vegetables, I saw beautiful methi (fenugreek leaves) at the shop. As a kid, I didn't like methi. But I remember seeing fresh methi at a small grocery store in Ipswich many years ago and since it reminded me of India, I ended up buying it and making sabzi. Now, it's one of my favourite veggies. So I ended up buying it and here's the recipe of how I make it. Will upload few other ways of making it some other time.

Ingredients: (Serves 2-3)

1. Methi leaves - 250 gms
2. Onion - 1 medium
3. Potato - 1 big
4. Dry red chillies - 3
5. Garlic - 7-8 cloves
6. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
7. Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
8. Turmeric powder - 3/4 tsp
9. Salt to taste
10. Sugar to taste
11. Oil (peanut/sunflower) - 4 tsp

Method:

1. Generally methi leaves are available in a stack of full stalks. The leaves need to be plucked at their base and the stalk can be thrown away or used to make veg stock. The picture below might help in understanding what needs to be plucked. Wash them properly before using them. I hate this plucking part.

2. Peel the potato and cut it into small pieces. Don't make the pieces too thin. About 3 or 4 mm thickness is good, otherwise the potatoes will overcook as methi takes more time to cook. Cut the onion in long pieces as shown. Finely chop the garlic and break the dry red chillies into large pieces.

3. Take 4 tsp of oil in a wok and heat it. Put the cumin seeds. and quickly put the dry red chillies and garlic in. Cover the wok for 10 seconds.

4. Put the onion in and mix it well. Cover and let it cook till the onion is slightly brown. Don't keep the flame too high or the onion will start sticking to the wok.

5. Put the red chilli powder and turmeric powder and mix it. Cook for 30 seconds.

6. Put the potatoes in and mix them well.

7. Now put the washed methi leaves in the wok and try to mix it. The leaves are gonna shrink in size as they heat up when you mix them. So put them in the wok in batches instead of trying to put all of them at the same time. In the pic below, I have put less than half of the 250 gms I had. When cooked, the 250 gms would become even smaller in size than this.

8. When all the leaves are mixed in, put salt and a little water. The water is needed to stop everything from sticking to the wok. Remember, methi leaves have a lot of water in them so don't put too much water. We are not making a curry. Also, you can keep adding water later till the leaves are fully cooked. Cover the pan and let it cook.

9. One medium-low flame, methi can take about 15-20 min to cook. Keep checking every few minutes to make sure there's enough water in it to cook methi. The best way to know if it has cooked is to eating some of it. When it is soft enough for your taste, it's cooked. Just before it's fully cooked, put a pinch of sugar and mix.

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TIP:: Methi (Fenugreek) leaves can be quite bitter sometimes. One way to reduce the bitterness is to soak the plucked leaves in water mixed with some salt and sugar for 15 minutes.

Recipe - Dodka (Ridge Gourd/ Toorai/ Turia) Sabzi

I am back. It was a short visit and now I am back to the grind. And the grind starts with getting my car repaired. So I am here at the service station, watching my baby elephant being operated upon as I write another simple recipe. Ridge Gourd is called Dodka, Toorai, Turai, etc depending on which part of the country you are in. There's another variety of this called Silk Squash (Gilka). The difference is in the ridges on the outside and also that the Gilka is much softer and squishy on the inside. You can use either of these in this recipe. This should be eaten with any bread, preferably chapati.

Ingredients - 
Serves 2 people (depending on appetite!)

1. Dodka - 250 gms
2. Moong dal (split green gram or golden gram) - 1/2 cup
3. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
4. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
5. Onion finely chopped - 1 medium
6. Red chilli powder - 1 tsp (or as per taste)
7. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
8. Salt - as per taste
9. Oil (peanut, sunflower) - 3 tsp
10. Fresh coriander/parsley - For garnishing

Method - 

1. Take the half cup moong daal in a bowl and cover it with water. Let it rest for at least 30 min. If you keep it for less time, it will be crispier in the sabzi. So adjust the timing according to your liking.

2. Peel the ridges off the Dodka

3. Chop them into small pieces. If the pieces are too small, they will get all mashed up when cooked, so about 2 cm would be the ideal size of the cubes.

4. Chop the onions (not too fine)

5. Take a wok and put oil in it. When hot, put the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start splitting, put the cumin seeds in and quickly put in the onions. Mix and let it cook for a few minutes on low flame.

6. If you are in a hurry, mix the Dodka pieces with the moong daal in a separate bowl and keep in the microwave on full power for about 5 min. By the time the onions are cooked in the wok, the dodka will be half cooked in the microwave this way.

7. Once the onions are cooked, put the red chilli powder and turmeric powder in and mix in the dodka and moong daal.Put salt as per taste and mix well. If dodka has been cooked already in the microwave for 5 minutes, then 5-7 minutes of cooking should do it otherwise about 10 minutes or until the dodka is soft.

8. Garnish with fresh coriander or parsley

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This is a very standard way of making dodka and it's the easiest way as well. It's by no means exotic. But then, you don't eat exotic food everyday, do you?

Recipe - Modak (Sweet Semolina Fried Dumplings)

Today's Ganesh Chaturthi. Lord Ganesh's 10 day festival begins. My parents also do the whole jing bang associated with the festival for these 10 days. We brought the Ganesh statue yesterday (and of course the quintessential mouse - his official "transport"!). All the decoration is done and very soon the proceedings will start.

One thing without which things are incomplete is His favorite dish - Modak (I strongly suspect that He comes to every household for 10 days only for them!). So today, I decided to put the recipe for the Modaks as they are being made right now by my mom. There are various fillings possible and it can be moved from desserts to the starters domain by changing the filling. So go ahead and experiment. This is one of the traditional recipes.

Ingredients - 

1. For the dough
1. Semolina - 100 gms
2. Pinch of salt
3. Clarified butter or peanut/sunflower oil - 1 or 2 teaspoon
4. Water
2. For the filling
1. Dry coconut roasted & shredded- 1/2 cup
2. Sugar - 1/2 cup
3. Poppy seeds - 2 tsp (if you like them)
4. Cashewnuts - 10
5. Almonds - 10

Method - 

1. Mix the salt and Semolina. Heat the butter or oil a little and put it on the mixture and use the water (a little bit at a time) to make a soft dough. Once the dough is made, cover it with a cloth and let it rest for half an hour.

2. Roast the poppy seeds a little (on very low flame) and mix it with the sugar. Grind them into a coarse  powder. Make a coarse powder of Cashews and Almonds. Roast bigger pieces of coconut and then shred them into smaller pieces. Mix everything together.

3. Make small balls of the dough and roll them out into small (about 3 inch diameter) circles.

4. Put 1 or 2 teaspoons of the mixture in the middle.

5. Apply a little water along the edge of the circle and seal the edges to make it into a small dumpling.

6. Fry them till they are a little brown on the outside. And it's done!

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As said before, there are so many different variations that can be done. Condensed milk or khoya can be used as filling with sugar powder. If there isn't enough time, any milk based readymade sweet can be used as filling. Ofcourse minced spicy meat can also be used as filling - it won't remain a modak then, it will be a spicy starter with a different name. Maida (refined wheat flour) can be used make the dough. It won't be as crispy when fried. Also, the dumplings can be steamed instead of frying.

Recipe - Phodnicha bhaat (Maharastrian fried rice)

Today, a friend said that he will ask his bachelor friends to visit my blog so they can learn some simple stuff to cook. Well, today I was feeling lazy so decided to make a very simple dish. I am sure anybody can make it. Plus, it is a good to use up leftover rice! Here's how it's gonna look eventually -

Ingredients - 

1. Rice 100gms (Rice made the night before tastes better here :) )
2. 1 small onion - not too thinly chopped
3. 1 small potato - thinly chopped
4. Green chilli - 2
5. Curry leaves - 5/6
6. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
7. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
8. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
9. Salt

Method - 

1. If you are using rice made on the night before, break the lumps that might have formed in it. If fresh rice is to be made, use the absorption method - Take a bowl and fill it half with water. Put the rice in it and start heating on small flame. When it is just about to be fully cooked, take if off the burner and put it in a strainer. Wash with cold water and spread it out. We want all the water out.

2. Chop the onion not too thin. Chop the potatoes very thin. This is important so that both the potatoes and onion pieces cook at the same time. Chop the chill in medium sized pieces. If you like more spicy food, chop the chillies very thin.

3. Heat oil in a wok. Put mustard seeds in it and as soon as they start splitting, put the cumin seeds in.

4. Quickly put the green chillies and after about 5 seconds, put the curry leaves in. Cover the wok for 10 seconds while these cook.

5. Put the onions and potatoes in together. It's important that they are put together or else the onions will start browning even before potatoes are cooked. We don't want that. Cover the wok and let it took for a few minutes (you might wanna put a little salt in it to help it cook better).

6. Once it's cooked, put the turmeric powder in. Mix it well and put the rice in. There's no need to cook the rice anymore. Mix in the salt and you are ready to go! Serve it with Mango pickle or Mango chutney.

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10 min later...

Today, there were no silly mistakes. Maybe coz there was no one nagging me (I can safely say this as the nagger is not around for 2 days). It tasted amazing!