VAL (serves 2-3)

Tangy, sweet and spicy val

This is a tangy, sweet and spicy curry made from a certain kind of flat dried beans called val. Traditionally this is one of the many dishes which is made during a sacred ceremony - a part of a big meal but you can make it separately. It goes perfectly well with rice and chapati.  It comes from Saurashtra (Gujarat) located in western part of India.  This is my mom-in-law's one of  the best dishes !! Now this recipe calls for certain traditional ingredients which can be found easily in an Indian grocery store. One of them is kokum which is a purple colored fruit of a plant called garcinia indica. If you don't find it you can add lemon juice but it should be your last resort. We are specifically using val ranguni, they are white, flat and kidney shaped.

Val ranguni

Ingredients :-

1/2 cup val ranguni

3 dried red chilies

7 dried kokum phool (fruit of garcinia indica)

1 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp ajwain or carom seeds

2-3 tbsp jaggery (preferred) or sugar

pinch of hing or asafoetida

1/4 tsp turmeric pwd

1 1/2 tsp red chili pwd / to taste

2 tbsp oil

salt to taste

coriander, chopped for garnish (optional)

water

Process :-

1.  Soak  val in a big bowl of water overnight, they will almost double in size by morning.

2.  Pressure cook the val with up to 4-5 whistles till soft but whole. These can be tricky to cook sometimes depending on their quality. If they aren't soft after 4-5 whistles, again cook with 2-3 whistles - make sure they shouldn't fall apart but still are soft.

3.  Meanwhile soak kokum in 1/4 cup of lukewarm water and set aside. It will turn into purple liquid.

4.  Heat oil on medium high in a pan. Add mustard seeds, once they have spluttered and messed up your kitchen top :) add carom seeds, asafoetida followed by turmeric pwd. and broken red chilies.

Red chilies add color

5.  Add red chili pwd and quickly add a big spoon of cooked val so as not to burn the chili pwd. Add remaining val, kokum phool along with the purple liquid. Finish it with salt, broken jaggery and little water if required, we want semi thick consistency. Mix it properly, taste it and add jaggery if reqd. - it should be tangy, sweet and spicy !  Garnish with coriander and serve hot !!

STUFFED BRINJAL AND RED POTATOES

Stuffed brinjal and red potatoes

This is one of the many famous vegetables/curries from India. There are various recipes for the stuffing, I am making the one which my friend told me about. I made a few changes to it adjust to my taste. Brinjal and eggplant belong to the same family but brinjal are purple, small and round in shape - you will easily find them in Indian grocery stores. I have tried using same sized red potatoes and brinjals so the dish looks nice. Let's look at the ingredients to get an idea what we will need. 

Ingredients :-

4 red baby potatoes, washed and dried
4 Indian style small brinjals, washed and dried
2 tbsp oil
pinch of asafoetida
handful of coriander, chopped

Stuffing :

1/8 cup fine gram flour/besan
4 tbsp roasted peanut powder
2 tbsp white sesame seeds, lightly toasted
2 tsp red chili pwd 
Salt to taste
1 tbsp oil
1 small onion, chopped fine
1/2 tsp lemon juice
5 tbsp roasted coriander cumin pwd
1 tbsp Maharashtrian style goda masala (preferred) / garam masala
1/8 tsp turmeric pwd.
1/8 tsp sugar

Process :-

1.  Mix all of the stuffing ingredients properly in a bowl.

2.  Make crosscuts like a plus (+) sign on the brinjal and red potato till the end but leaving some space don't they don't fall apart completely. Stuff them with the above mixture till the end. Keep aside the remaining mixture if any.

Stuffed with masala, ready to cook

3.  Heat 2 tbsp oil on medium high in a flat bottom wide pan. Add asafoetida and arrange all the stuffed brinjal and potatoes - masala side up (we want the stuffing intact :)) Sprinkle the leftover masala on top.

4. Cover it and let it cook on medium low heat for 15-20 mins. turning them once/twice with a spatula till they are cooked through but not mushy. Make sure they don't break or fall apart.

5.  Garnish with coriander and serve hot. The go perfectly well with chapati (Indian style bread).

FRESH CORN BHAJI / FRESH CORN FRITTERS

Crunchy golden corn bhaji !!

Summer is about to end but you can still entertain your taste buds with fresh corn bhaji or fritters. These are quick and easy to make so they work perfectly as an afternoon snack / appetizer when you have company. They are sure to steal the show when you take it to a party !! So let's look at the ingredients, you will need :

4 fresh corn
4 garlic cloves
1 inch piece of ginger
4 green chilies (or acc. to taste)
1 medium red onion chopped
5-6 tbsp gram flour / besan
Salt to taste
handful of coriander chopped
oil for frying

Process :-

1.  Shuck the corn to remove all of the kernels. Keeping half of the kernels aside, crush the other half with ginger, green chilies and garlic cloves. Corn is sweet so I have used 4 green chilies, this will give nice hot and sweet taste to the fritters. You can decrease the amount acc. to your taste.

2.  Heat oil on medium high. Simultaneously add the whole kernels, salt, coriander and gram flour to the crushed corn batter. Gram flour is used for binding the fritters, they will not let the fritters fall apart in hot oil. Mix everything properly.

Corn bhaji batter

3.  Use a spoon to drop 2-3 even sized fritters in hot oil depending on the size of your pan. Remember never to overcrowd the pan else fritters will turn oily. Fry them till they turn crunchy and golden brown. Serve with ketchup or they taste yummy just by themselves !!

Yummy corn fritters !

SAMOSA

Chatpata Samosas !

Samosa is a very famous spicy appetizer from Indian cuisine. It is shaped like a triangle and normally stuffed with potatoes, onions, green peas or lentil filling.  It is normally fried but sometimes baked too. It tastes great with coriander chutney, tomato ketchup or even by itself. Let's look at the ingredients, they make 16 medium sized samosas.

Ingredients :-

Filling ::

3 medium sized potatoes boiled and mashed
1 small onion chopped fine
1/4 cup green peas, boiled and partially mashed
3 large cloves garlic
1 inch piece of ginger
2 green chilies
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp red chili pwd (or to taste)
1/8 tsp mustard seeds
pinch of asafoetida
1/8 tsp turmeric pwd
Salt to taste
1 tbsp oil + more for deep frying
Handful of coriander, chopped for garnish


Cover ::

3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp oil
water

Process :-

1.  Mince ginger, garlic and green chilies to form a paste.

2.  Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan on medium high, add mustard seeds. Once they start to splutter, add asafoetida and turmeric pwd. Now add onions and saute them for a minute or so, add potatoes, green peas and rest of the spices. Add lemon juice, coriander and mix properly. Keep it aside and let cool - our filling is ready. Divide it into 16 portions.

Samosa filling

3.  For the cover, make a pliable dough using the flour, oil and water. Cover it and let it rest for 10 mins. 

4.  Heat oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Divide the dough into 8 equal sized balls. Take a dough ball and roll it into a circle of around 5 inch diameter. Cut it from the center to form 2 semi circles. So basically from one dough ball you will  make 2 samosas.

Semi circles are formed

5.  Form a cone out of the semi circle and stick the sides by applying water on your fingertips.

Shape it into a cone

 Fill the cone with a portion of the filing and overlap one side over the other forming a triangle. Use water to glue to sides together. Your samosa should be able to stand ! Use the same process to shape other samosa.

Samosas stuffed with filling 

Standing samosas !

6.  Simultaneously add 2-3 samosas to the fryer not overcrowding the frying pan. Fry for 2-3 mins. per side on medium heat till they turn golden in color and crisp on the outside.

Samosas getting fried

Samosa is ready !!

7.  Serve hot samosas with either coriander chutney or ketchup. Enjoy !!

Mouth watering samosa !!

DABELI

Chatpati Dabeli !!

Dabeli or Kutchi dabeli or Kachchhi dabeli is a snack food of India, originating in the Kutch or Kachchh region of Gujarat - located in the western part of India. Dabeli literally means "pressed" in Gujarati language. It is a spicy snack made by mixing boiled potatoes with a dabeli masala, and putting the mixture between pav (burger bun) and served with chutneys made from tamarind, date, garlic, red chillies, etc. and garnished with pomegranate and roasted peanuts. I didn't find pomegranate so I used raisins instead. Dabeli masala is readily available in any Indian store. Recipe serves 2-3 people, let's look at what we need :-

Ingredients :-
~~~~~~~~

2 medium potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed
1 medium onion, chopped fine - divide it into half
2 tsp oil + more for sautéing
Salt to taste
2 tsp dabeli masala
handful of coriander chopped fine
fine sev (optional)
tomato ketchup (optional)
1 pack (8) burger buns
1/4 cup fresh pomegranate seeds / raisins
masala peanuts, recipe follows
tamarind chutney, recipe follows
garlic chutney, recipe follows

Process :-
~~~~~~

1.  Heat oil in a pan on medium high, add half of the chopped onions and saute them for about 2 mins. till they turn translucent. Now add 2 tbsp tamarind chutney. 

Sautéed onions with tamarind chutney in it

2.  Next add dabeli masala, saute for 30 secs. till it perfumes the oil. Now add salt, mashed potatoes and water to thin out the mixture till it comes to a spreadable consistency.

Dabeli masala perfumes the oil

3.  Spread it on a plate with about an inch of thickness. Decorate it with rest of the onions, masala peanuts, pomegranate seeds/raisins and coriander. I have added raisins to just half of the dish so if one doesn't like raisins then they can omit it. 

Dabeli masala ready with masala peanuts and raisins

4.  For serving, heat a non stick griddle on medium high. Apply 1/2 tsp of tamarind chutney, garlic chutney (adjust the quantity acc. to your taste) on the lower bun. Spread a little ketchup on the remaining bun if you like. Spread around 2 spoonfuls of potato mixture, a tbsp of sev, cover it with the top.

Dabeli ready to go on the griddle

5.  Add little bit of oil on the pan and saute the bun on both sides for couple of secs. till it gets a nice golden color and the mixture inside is heated through. Cut it in half and serve hot !! Though this is a snack food, we love it for lunch / dinner when we want to have something light but super tasty !


Masala Peanuts :-
~~~~~~~~~~~

1/4 cup raw peanuts
salt
1/8 tsp red chili pwd.
1/8 tsp garam masala
2 pinches of sugar
squirt of lemon juice
1/4 tsp oil

Masala peanuts !

Heat oil on medium high, add peanuts and rest of the masala. Saute for 2-3 mins. till peanuts are fried through and crunchy on the outside. Make sure they are well coated with the masala. Turn off heat and let them cool.

Tamarind chutney :-
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3 golf sized balls of tamarind soaked in warm water for 2-3 hrs
salt to taste
1/4 tsp red chili pwd. / to taste
1/2 tsp roasted cumin-coriander pwd.
3 golf sized balls of jaggery

Mash the tamarind with your fingers so as to form a pulp. Pass it through a strainer to remove any seeds / fibres. In a small pan add the strained tamarind pulp, water to thin out and the rest of the ingredients. Let it boil for few mins. till the jaggery melts and a semi thick concoction is formed. Turn off heat and let the chutney cool. Chutney stays fresh in the refrigerator for 15-20 days when stored in an airtight glass bottle.

Garlic chutney :-
~~~~~~~~~~~

1 whole garlic bulb, cloves removed, peeled 
salt to taste
1 1/2 tbsp red chili pwd / to taste
1/2 tsp oil
pea sized ball of fresh tamarind (optional, for the tang)
handful of plain roasted peanuts (optional)

Spicy hot garlic chutney

Grind all of the ingredients into a dry paste. Spicy garlic chutney is ready !

FRIED CHIVDA

Fried poha chivda

Fried Chivda is a fried snack made from a special kind of flattened rice. This is a rich Maharashtrian snack prepared during Diwali or can also be prepared as an afternoon snack. It is also prepared in other states with slight recipe changes. It is made from flattened rice - there are 2 versions to this, the earlier one (chivda/chevdo) which I had shown on the blog was the sauteed version. This one is a richer version as it involves frying all the ingredients. 

There are a couple varieties of flattened rice available in the market - thick, thin and a special variety just used for frying  - we need that special one (ask the grocer). If you use other kinds, chivda might come out oily which won't taste good. 

One more thing you will need is a round variety of frying utensil with tiny holes which will hold the poha perfectly while frying.

Ingredients :-

4 cups special thick flattened rice (used for frying)

Handful each of chana dalia , golden/black raisins, raw peanuts, cashew halves (optional)

Broken chilies, dalia, curry leaves and raisins

3 long green chilies, broken into pieces

8-10 curry leaves

Salt to taste

1 1/2 tsp red chili pwd. or to taste

1/8 tsp cumin-coriander pwd.

1/4 tsp sugar

Oil for frying

Round stainless steel frying utensil / spider with tiny holes

Frying utensil

Process :-

1.  Turn on the oil on medium heat. Keep everything ready as you will need to fry them in batches according to  their frying time. Also keep a large mixing bowl ready.

2.  Here you will put the fryer inside the oil and drop a handful or two of poha, use a spoon to turn making sure all the poha are fried. It will take around 1-2 mins, make sure all the oil is drained before you dump the fried poha in the mixing bowl. Fry them in batches, poha will puff up when they are fried.

Fried poha and peanuts

3.  Next fry dalia, rasins, peanuts and cashews separtely dumping them over the poha in turns. Raisins will turn plump when you fry them. Keep in mind that raisins, cashews and dalia get fried pretty quickly, you want to keep an eye on them.

Fried dalia, peanuts, curry leaves, chilies and raisins

4.  Next are green chilies and curry leaves. Be very careful as green chilies might splutter when frying, you want to stay away from the stove top. Curry leaves need less frying time, get everything ready in the mixing bowl.

5.  Mix salt, red chili pwd., cumin-coriander pwd. and sugar in a bowl. Season the chivda with this spice mix, be very gentle while mixing taking care not to break the fried poha/curry leaves. Let it cool completely and serve. 

6.  Store chivda in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. It stays fresh on shelf for 10-15 days depending on the weather conditions.        

Spicy Chivda

FRESH MOZZARELLA AND TOMATO BRUSCHETTA

Fresh Mozzarella and Tomato Bruschetta

This is one of my all time favorite Italian appetizers. Easy to prepare, delicious with an array of colors - this is a dish to behold !! You will find numerous recipes of bruschetta but this one with fresh mozzarella cheese is like a party in your mouth !! So let's look at the ingredients and get started :

Ingredients :-

1 loaf ciabatta bread

6 cloves garlic

2 large hot house tomatoes

1 cup fresh basil + little more for garnish

3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil 

1 pack (7-8 oz) fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced into rounds

salt to taste

couple turns of fresh ground black pepper

Fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and garlic

Process :-

1.  Add tomatoes, garlic, a cup of basil and EVOO to the chopper/food processor. Let it work till it forms a nice chunky sauce. Season it with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Your kitchen will be filled with the fresh aroma of basil !

Fresh chunky sauce

2.  Preheat oven to 375 F. Slice the loaf diagonally with  1- 1 1/2 inch thick slices, arrange neatly on the baking pan. Drizzle with generous amount of olive oil and bake in the oven for 3 mins. 

3.  Cut the top off the garlic and rub it over the hot slices working quickly but carefully.

4.  Arrange 2-3 slices of mozzarella cheese over the hot bread and put them back in the oven for up to a minute till the cheese starts to melt.

Cheese ready to go in the oven

5.  Add a spoonful of the chunky sauce over the cheese, garnish with fresh basil and serve the colorful bruschetta slices !! Bon appétit !!

Colorful Bruschetta !!

DUDHI MUTHIA / BOTTLE GOURD MUTHIYA

Dudhi / Bottle Gourd Muthiya

Muthiya is a popular and healthy tea time snack from Gujarat - which lies in western part of India. The name origins from "muthi" means "fist" in Gujarati and while making this snack you need to hold the dough in the palm of your hand and press it making a fist. Now muthiya can be prepared not only with bottle gourd / dudhi / lauki but with methi (fenugreek leaves), cabbage, cooked rice, spinach / palak etc. I have tried all these versions and taste equally good. The reason behind dudhi muthiya is as you know dudhi is a low calorie vegetable and highly nutritious but I have seen generally people don't like to eat dudhi in form of a curry and when made in this form, it tastes amazing hence dudhi muthiya ! They come out softer than other muthiya because dudhi has a lot of water content, also as I told you this is the best way to feed dudhi to your children and BIG children who don't like dudhi :) So let's look at the recipe. 

Dudhi / Bottle Gourd

Ingredients :-

3 cups dudhi / bottle gourd grated

5 large cloves garlic

1 inch piece of ginger

8 small green chilies (or acc. to taste)

2 tbsp plain yogurt

1/2 tsp white sesame seeds 

Salt to taste

1 1/2 cup fine whole wheat flour

1 cup coarse whole wheat flour / rava (cream of wheat)

handful of coriander chopped (for garnish)

For tempering :

2 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp black mustard seeds

1/2 tsp white sesame seeds

a pinch of asafoetida

1/8 tsp turmeric pwd.

Process :-

1.  Crush ginger, garlic and green chilies together to form a fine paste.

2.  In a large bowl mix all of the above ingredients leaving out the "tempering" part. You can add half of the coriander to the mixture also if you like and leave the rest for garnish.

3.  For this preparation we will need a steamer on medium heat with a plate inside it. Oil the plate so muthiya doesn't stick to it. If you don't have a steamer, take a big pot, a small flat bottom strainer / vessel and find a plate which fits inside it. You can fill the pot less than halfway with water. Then put the strainer/vessel upside down and place the oiled plate on it. Our motto is to steam muthiya such that water doesn't touch the plate. 

4.  Now take the mixture in the palm of your hands and form it like a fist, arrange one by one into the plate.

Muthiya - ready to steam

5.  Let it steam for 35-40 mins.  Best way to find out is insert a knife into the muthiya, if it comes out almost clean, muthiya are done or else steam for 5 more mins.

6.  There are 2 ways of eating muthiya - one way is steaming hot with a drizzle of oil on it. Other is with tempering. 

7.  For tempering, let the muthiya cool completely and cut them into bite sized pieces. Put a large pan on medium heat, add oil - after about 30-40 secs. add mustard seeds. They will splutter (here you will want to stay away from the pan - you can cover the pan if you want), then add asafoetida, turmeric pwd. and sesame seeds (here you definitely want to cover the pan else you will end up cleaning your messy stove top, don't worry it's not that bad :)). Now add muthiya and saute for 4-5 mins. Garnish with coriander and serve hot. It is a great tea time snack but works for dinner as well. Muthiya can be accompanied with hot ginger tea or sweet milk !!