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 - Victorian Sponge Cake

This is a basic Victorian cake. I haven't been able to take photos of the intermediate steps coz I had messy hands :). Also, you could convert this cake into a Victorian sandwich, by slicing the cake into two layers and applying strawberry jam between them.

Ingredients

1. Maida (All purpose flour) - 200 gms
2. Sugar - 200 gms
3. Unsalted butter - 200 gms
4. Eggs - 4
5. Baking powder - 1 tsp
6. Baking soda - 1/4th tsp

Method

1. Mix maida, baking powder and baking soda using a thin wired sieve. Pass through the sieve 3-4 times to mix it well
2. Beat butter in a glass bowl till fluffy. It's a lot of effort, but then you do get mechanical egg beaters that make it slightly easy for you.
3. Start adding one egg at a time and continue beating it. The other option is to beat the eggs separately in a blender and mix with the butter and again beat it for sometime.
4. Grind the sugar to a powder in a grinder and add to the egg and butter mix and beat it again. Remember, you have to beat it till it's fluffy. If you overdo it, it will become slightly lumpy.
5. At this point, start pre-heating the oven to 200C
6. Apply butter to thee sides and bottom of the baking pan and dust it with some maida.
7. Now put the maida/baking powder mix in batter and fold it in slowly. DO NOT beat it. Just move a wooden spatula in a clockwise or anti clockwise direction in the bowl to mix it slowly. Do not change direction midway. Fold the mixture in this way slowly so as not to release the air that has already built up inside the batter.
8. Pour the batter in the baking pan upto slightly more than half the height.
9. Keep it in the oven at 200C for 5 min.
10. Change the temperature to 180C and bake it for another 25-30 min.
11. If you pour this batter in the cup cake bowls, the baking time reduces by a few minutes.
12. Once the timer goes off, take out the pan and insert a knife into the cake. If the cake sticks to the knife blade, keep it inside for another few minutes.
13. Once done, take out and put on a reverse wire mesh in order to air it.
14. You can do some icing on it if you want after it has cooled down.

Recipe - Corn Chatpata

Ingredients

1. Corn - 150 gms
2. Onions - 1 medium
3. Garlic - 5-7 cloves
4. Red chilli powder/Chopped Green chillies - To taste
5. Salt - To taste
6. Salted butter - 3 tsp

Method

1. Chop onions and garlic finely. If using green chillies, chop them as well.

2. Heat 2 tsp of butter in a pan and put the chopped garlic (and chillies) in it. After about 10 seconds, put the onions in.

3. When the onions are golden brown, put the corn in. Mix well
4. Put red chillies powder (if not using green chillies) and salt to taste.
5. Cook for a few minutes and put 1 tsp of butter on it. Mix well.
6. Serve :)

Recipe - Garlic Roasted Chicken

Ingredients

1. Whole chicken (with skin) - 1 kg
2. Garlic cloves - 20
3. Garlic paste - 4 tsp
4. Ginger paste - 2 tsp
5. Red chilli powder - 2 tsp
6. Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
7. Potato - 3 medium
8. Tomato - 1 medium
9. Onions - 3 medium
10. Salt - as [er taste
11. Red wine - 3 tablespoon (at least)
12. Vinegar - 2 tsp
13. Lemon juice - 2 tsp
14. Lemon - 1 whole
15. Olive oil 

Method

1. Wash the chicken with clean water and pat dry
2. Slowly separate the skin of the chicken from the body (without removing it). Make as much space as possible between the body and the skin
3. Apply the garlic paste and ginger paste to the chicken skin and also on the body beneath the skin. Apply on the insides of the chicken as well
4. Sprinkle the red chilli powder and cumin powder on the chicken and spread it around using your fingers
5. Sprinkle a little salt on it and also a little olive oil
6. Prick a lemon with a small knife and place it inside the chicken cavity
7. Pre-heat the oven to 240 C.
8. Roughly cut all the vegetables into around 1/2 inch pieces and spread them around the baking tray
9. Sprinkle olive oil and lemon juice on the veggies and place the chicken on top of the veggies
10. Put in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 200C for 1 hour (1kg->1hour)
11. Once done, take out the chicken and let it rest for at least 15 min before serving

For the gravy

1. After taking the chicken out of the oven, put the baking tray with the baked veggies on a burner with medium to high heat
2. Put some water in it along with vinegar, and red wine
3. Mix a little salt and mix it and let it cook for some more time till the veggies are soft
4. Mash the veggies using a potato masher and let it all cook for some more time
5. You can eat the gravy as it is now or pass it through a sieve to make make it more consistent - the taste is amazing either ways
6. Serve the roast with the gravy

Tip

1. Keep tasting the gravy to adjust the amount of salt, vinegar and red wine
2. The type of red wine used makes a difference to the taste. I prefer a very smooth merlot + shiraz

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.

Lonavla/Khandala restaurants

It's been more than a month since I posted a recipe, but circumstances didn't allow. Now I am back, though this post is more about the restaurants in Lonavla/Khandala. I have been to quite a few places there, but I am just giving my views about a few of them -

1. Lagoona Resort - This is a costly place. For no reason. It's not at all worth the moolah. The selection of items in dinner and breakfast is limited and the taste is not good either.
2. Dukes Retreat - This place has a good selection of items in breakfast, though lunch/dinner options are pretty limited. The taste is not consistent. Some dishes were amazing, but some were pathetic. And it is also pretty costly. Not worth the money.
3. Fariyas Resort - Beautifully decorated interiors of the restaurant. Have an option of dinner buffet or continental dishes. Everything we tasted was good! But the price, almost thrice... thrice of what some costly restaurants charge!
4. Mirchi - This is a small place when going towards Mumbai from Lonavla town on the old highway. Decent place. Good taste. Pretty cheap. Definitely worth every bit of money spent. Normal Indian food is better than the chinese they offer.
5. Gavran Tadka - This place is about 5-6 km from Lonavla, on the way to Lohagad. It's in the middle of nowhere and is a very small place. Extremely cheap. Good service. Amazing taste. Easily the best food we had at Lonavla or Khandala

There are many more restaurants there. Might write about them later. Enjoy these till then :)

Recipe - Mix Veg Poriyal or Palya

Poriyal or Palya is a dish from Kerala and Tamilnadu made by shallow frying vegetables and garnished (and slightly cooked) with freshly grated coconut. It can be made using any vegetables and sometimes even made with chicken or lamb. The recipe remains pretty much the same.

Ingredients: Serve 2-3

1. Cabbage - 1 cup chopped
2. Capsicum - 3/4 cup chopped
3. Potato - 1/2 cup chopped
4. Tomato - 1 small chopped
5. Onion - 1 medium chopped
6. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
7. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
8. Curry leaves - 4-5
9. Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
10. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
11. Salt - As per taste
12. Coconut - grated 1/2 cup
13. Oil - 3 tsp

Method:

1. Chop all the vegetables into small sized pieces. Break open a ripe coconut and grate it. 1/2 cup is what we will be using in this recipe. Remaining can be stored in the fridge for use in some other recipe.

2. Heat oil in a wok. Put mustard seeds in. When they start popping, put the cumin seeds and curry leaves. Put the chopped onion after 10 seconds. When the onions turn slightly brown, put the other vegetables in and mix well. Cover the wok and let them cook for about 5 minutes. Keep checking every couple of minutes to make sure that the veggies are not sticking to the wok (the water in the cabbage should help, but still it's better to check). Put all the spices and salt in and cover again for 5 minutes.

3. Once the veggies are almost cooked, put the grated coconut in and mix well. Let it cook for another 3 minutes without covering the wok this time.

4. Garnish with fresh coriander if you like and serve with chapati or appam.

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Some chefs put the veggies in boiling water to cook them first and then just toss everything together in a hot oil. I don't like doing that. Also, like I said before, any veggies can be put in this or even diced chicken and lamb.

The nagger made this dish and I must say it tasted amazing!