Batate song/ saung

Batate Song served with Cilantro lime rice

Saung/ song is one of the lip smacking relish, marking its spot in konkani lunch sides. I have posted a quick dish and also the kind that

lunch thali

Rice, Masoori saar-upkari, bhenda talasani, cauliflower bhajo

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Vedakki mor thalippu/ bendekai majjige huli

Lady fingers -1lb
Curd/yogurt - 2 cups
Onions -2, thinly sliced
Red chillies -2
Green chillies -4, slit
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds -1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds -1/2 tsp, coarsely crushed
Methi seeds -1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
Coconut oil- 1tbsp
 Vegetable oil - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Cut lady fingers in 1" pieces. Whip curd with turmeric and salt, keep aside.

Heat vegetable oil and season with mustard seeds, methi seeds, red chillies, green chillies, onion and curry leaves. Saute till translucent and a slight change in color. Add in lady fingers and saute well. Add in whipped curd and cook till oil separates from the gravy. Take of heat and add in coconut oil.



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Varan Bhaat

One of all time favourite dish in Maharastrian meals is varan bhaat with hot ghee and vangi batat bhaji according to my DH. Today is one 'happy meal' kinda day for V. Recipe courtesy, dear M-I-L.

 Varan bhaat ani Vangi batat bhaji

Varan Ingredients:
 Toor daal 1 cup
ghee 1tbsp
turmeric 1/4 tsp
cumin seeds 1/2 tsp, crushed coarsely
hing 1/2 tsp
salt to taste

Pressure cook toor daal with enough water and cook thoroughly.
Mash the daal and add salt and half a cup of water to it. Bring it rolling boil and take off heat. Separately, prepare seasoning by heating ghee in a pan, add crushed jeera and hing. Take pan off heat and add turmeric powder. Pour seasonings to the daal and cover. Serve with rice and half a teaspoon of ghee.

Vangi batat

 Ingredients:
Small purple vaangi 6-8
potatoes 2-3
Onions- 3, finely chopped
jeera -1tsp, crushed coarsely
chilli powder- 1tsp
turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
sambar powder- 1 tsp
goda masala- 1 tsp
oil 2tbsp
salt to taste
coriander leaves to garnish

Cut each vangi lengthwise into 6 pieces. Cut potatoes to the same size as well.

Heat oil in a kadai and saute onions till translucent and slightly changes color. Add all the masala powder and potatoes. Roast till potatoes get a slight crisp at the edges and then add vaangi. Saute for a couple more minutes. Add half a cup of water, cover and cook on simmer till potatoes are cooked thoroughly. When done, take off heat and garnish with coriander leaves.

Kadgi ani chane ghashi / kadgi ani thori ghashi

One of the easiest and most often cooked curry in the Konkani household
is this. Ghashi is what we call for the curry made with the basic ground coconut masala, one vegetable, one pulse followed by mustard seasoning. A simple, quick and a delicious one at that.

Most common combination is Black chana and  tender jackfruit or  sprouted green gram (moong) and tender bamboo shoot which is equally delicious. I believe that the combination is dependent upon the availability as fresh bamboo and the tender jack fruit are both seasonal and for this dish we cannot make do with the brine vegetable (In India, that is).


I have used kabuli chana as it is the one of the staple in my pantry and I make do with the canned kind when I'm pressed for time. Below is a picture of dried tuvar and jack fruit ghashi.


Iingredient's:
1 cup grated coconut,
1 tsp tamarind pulp
8 roasted red chillies
1 can jack fruit
1/4 tsp Methi seeds
1/2 cup Thori aka whole tuvar Daal or
1/2 cup Kabuli chana or Kala chana

For seasoning
2 tbsp oil
¼ tsp mustard seeds
2 sprigs curry leaves
2 red chillies

Soak thori/ chana in warm water for 6 hrs. Drain water and rinse a couple of times. Cook with enough water in the pressure cooker for 5 whistles till almost cooked (not completely soft as it has to further cook with the masala). Do not drain the water the pulse is cooked in.

Drain the canned jack fruit and chop the jack fruit pieces in two. Add it to the cooked chana and cook till soft. About 10 minutes.

Dry roast the red chillies and methi seeds. Grind it along with coconut, tamarind pulp and salt into a smooth paste.Add ground masala  to the kadgi and chana and bring the curry to a boil and simmer for 5 Min's. Take off of heat and season.

Temper by heating 2tbsp oil and when heated to a smoking point add mustard seeds, 2 red chillies and 2 sprig of curry leaves. Add it to the curry and cover. Serve with rice as a side.

 The picture of kadgi ani thori ghashi.


.
Substitute and make your own combo's

Pick one pulse and one vegetable
Thori --for--- black chana , whole vaal, Avro (Navy beans)
Kadgi --for--- Suran (Yam), green plantains, potato

I especially add extra Kadgi since we prefer more of them than pulses. so instead of 1 can, I usually end up with 2 cans.

Gosale upkari

Lunch thali: Surai sheeth, kolmbo, doNNe mirsange bhajo ani gosale upkari

Ridge gourd/ Gosale is always a 'two dishes out one' kind of vegetable. This gourd is always used after scraping off the ridges to make it  edible into any delicacy, be it in upkari (vegetable stir-fry), podi (deep fried )or cutlet. The ridges are then seperately made into a chutney or thambli  (same recipe, thinner consistency and with the addition of mustard and red chillie seasoning) depending on what the cook desires for the day. Today is a upkari and ' gosale shire/ghire chutney' day for me.


 Ridge gourd cut up











 Ridges removed for making the vegetable tender. The scraps are saved to make into a delicious chutney or thambli.






Ingredients:

Ridge gourd/ Gosale - 2, skinned and chopped
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
red chillies- 2, broken
curry leaves- 1 sprig
coconut- shredded, about a table spoon
oil- 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Heat oil in a pan. Temper with mustard seeds, red chillies, curry leaves. Add in gosale and cook (for  about 10 mins) covered without additon of water.  Add salt and coconut.As simple as that.

Kolmbo

Kolmbo, a konkan variation of Madras sambar with freshly roasted and ground masala with many other vegetables than the regular tomatoes and onions like that of idli sambar. This kind is mainly used as a lunch/dinner side and has marked as one of the main dish for a konkani lunch. The vegetables that goes in this dish are drumsticks/mashinga sang (a must), tindora/gherkins, brinjal/vaingaNa  along with the usual potatoes, tomatoes and onions and are not limited to the mentioned few. In my moms kitchen, carrots, beans and cauliflower are a staple in kolmbo but V thinks that English vegetable were not an addition in the authentic kolmbo. My childhood memories of kolmbo were all the vegetables I hated; stem of cauliflower & knolkol too. The ground fragrant masala is what matters here. All else is secondary, I say!

Kolmbo (this one has only batato ani mashinga sang), surai sheeth, miriye pappod, mirsange happol, batate happol

Ingredients:
Roast:
Oil 1 tbsp
red chillies- 8-10
chana dal- 2 tbsp
urad dal-2 tbsp
coriander seeds- 2 tbsp
jeera- 1 tsp
methi seeds- about 15
turmeric- 1/2 tsp
hing- 1/2 tsp

Grind the roasted ingredients with the following
1/2 cup coconut
1 sprig curry leaves
tamarind paste- 1tsp
salt to taste


Vegetables:
Drumsticks- rough skin peeled lightly
potato- 1 small, cubed
brinjal-4, quatered
pearl onions- about 15
tomato-2, finely chopped
cauliflower florets-about 2 cups
Tindora - about 10, quaterd
carrot -1 cubed

Seasoning: oil, mustard seeds,2 sprigs of curry leaves, 1/4 tsp hing.
cilantro for garnish

Pressure cook 1 cup of tuvar dal.
In a big stock pot, cook all the vegetables till half done, add the ground masala, tamarind paste and salt. Bring it to rolling boil. Simmer & cook till all the vegetables are cooked through. Add the seasoning and garnish with cilantro.
Serve with rice.

beetroot Upkari

• Rooting for  ruby red beetroot, here's a quick & super easy side, nothing glamorous or fancy - just a good for you 'unmessed with' beets.  I've been making repeats with a couple of delicious ways to serve these healthy addition to our diet. A sweetish hot beet upkari  &  oven roasted beets are 2 favourite side dishes devoured happily by both my kids. Did I mention that I have one picky kid & another extremely picky?!
•    A week  ago few of beet shreds went into the red velvet cake as a trial & I was very proud that the kids had no idea that they were eating healthy. I almost feel powerful to have complete control of what goes into their bodies...well, almost! In near future I do have plans of making a raitha & a cold soup as well. Did I mention that I have a few golden beets growing in my kitchen garden?

 

  Ingredients:

• beets - 4, peeled, cut
• mustard seeds - 1/8 tsp
• red chillies 3
• curry leaves- a sprig
• coconut - 1tbsp
• salt

 

• Heat oil in a pan. Temper with mustard, red chillies & curry leaves. Add the matchstick beets, salt & half a cup of water. Cover & simmer for 15 to 20 mins till completely cooked. Garnish with grated coconut.

Baingan patiala

Ingredients:

4 Purple Chinese eggplant, cut lengthwise, cut 1" pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped
2-3 green chillies, slit
1" piece ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp amchoor powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
salt, to taste
2 tbsp light cooking oil

Saute eggplant pieces in a large skillet till lightly roasted. Set aside.

Heat a little oil in the skillet, saute onions,cumin seeds, spices, green chillies and ginger and garlic for a few minutes. Add in tomatoes and cook on medium heat till the mixture is almost dry and leaves oil from the sides.

Mix in fried eggplants, salt, and let cook a few minutes till eggplants are done through.

Sannapolo

2 cups rice
1/4 cup toor dal
1/2 cup coconut, grated
6 or more dry red chillies
1/4 tsp tamarind pulp
1 cup cabbage/ paddole seeds/ onion/ mashingasang phool- finely chopped
salt
oil to fry

Soak rice and dal for a couple fo hours. Grind coconut, tamarind, chillies to a fine paste using a little water.
Add rice and dal and grind further to make a coarse paste . Add salt. Use one of the following; cabbage with onion, snakegourd seeds, drumstick leaves or flowers.

Heat a griddle with oil, pour a spoonful of batter and spread with the spoon or flatten with hand to a thick dosa.  The beauty of these are the ease making it no-fail side dish  for the novice. Flip over the dosa and fry on the other side till lightly roasted. Serve hot with dalithoy and rice.

Gujarati Dal

 1 cup Tuvar dal

1 tomato, diced

 3 cloves garlic, crushed

1" stick ginger, crushed

3-5 green chilli, slit

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp jeera powder

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/4 tsp hing

2 tsp lemon juice

salt

oil

 curry leaves

coriander leaves

Pressure cook dal  with a tablespoon of oil & salt. Pour into a saucepan with 2 cups of water and bring it to a boil.  Simmer on low flame for 5 minutes.

Temper with heating oil in a pan,  add mustard seeds, hing , garlic, curry leaves, splutter for a minute add  tomatoes, turmeric powder, red chilli powder , ginger & all other spice powder and sauté until the tomatoes are soft. Add the tempering to the cooked dal. Squeeze lemon juice & garnish with chopped cilantro.

Gosale ghire chutney

Ingredients:
peel of 2 ridge gourd ( gosale)
1 cup coconut
4-6 green chillies
1/2 tsp jeera
2 tsp ghee
salt

In a skillet, heat ghee and roast the gourd peel with jeera and green chillies till the peels brown on the edges and wilts. Grind the roasted ingredients with coconut, tamarind, salt and very little water to a coarse paste. This is one of the chutney usually an accompaniment to rice as opposed to breakfast eats.

Aloo Mirch masala

This is one of my easy breezy side dish that is perfect for impromptu get togethers.
All the ingredients are readily available in an Indian pantry, to put together and make into a delicious side. Aloo can easily sustituted for paneer and made into Paneer mirch masala which has been added as a new favourite in my list. Enough already! Here goes.

Ingredients for ground masala:
1 small onion
1 tomato
red chillies 2-3
Garlic cloves 4-5
Ginger 1/2″ piece
Coriander seeds 1 tsp
jeera seeds 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
Chili powder 1 teaspoon
Garam masala powder 1/2 tsp
Cashews 10-15, soak in water for 15 mins

Onion 2, finely sliced
Potatoes 1, boiled, cubed
Capsicum 2, cubed
coriander leaves, finely chopped

Dry roast coriander seeds, jeera seeds and red chillies separately .Grind along with onion, ginger, tomato, garlic cloves and cashews to a paste.

Heat kadai with 3 tbsp oil. Fry sliced onions till translucent.
Add turmeric powder, chili powder, garam masala powder and capsicum peices. Saute for a few mins. Add ground masala paste and fry till the oil floats. To this add boiled potatoes, salt and chopped coriander leaves. Saute on simmered heat for about 5 more mins.
Best served with chapathis.

Vaingana/gulla sagle

Ingredients:
Gulla/thai green eggplants 12-15
Coconut -1 cup
Red chillies 6-8
Tamarind paste 1/2 tsp
methi seeds 1/2 tsp
Coriander seeds 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

prep:
Slit egglpants into 4 from the bottom keeping the stem intact.

Grind together the coconut, red chillies,methi seeds, coriander seeds, salt and tamarind to a coarse paste. Spoon this paste in the cut slits of eggplants. Set aside.

Heat oil in a flat heavy bottomed pan and season with mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add the stuffed eggplants and let it sizzle in the seasoning, turning the eggplants as it roasts on medium heat. After roasting for a few minutes, add the rest of the ground masala, if any and cover and cook for about 10 minutes to cook completely on low heat. Do not stir the dish too much which may break the eggplants. Serve hot as a side dish along with rice.

Paneer Jalfrezi

A variation to paneer chili with the addition of schezwan sauce.



1 block paneer ( 400g) cut in rectangle pcs
1  each- bell pepper, red onion,
5-8 green chillies, cut fine
1 inch ginger piece, julliened
3-5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp chilli flakes
2 tbsp hot chilli sauce (I used Taco bell brand)
2 tbsp (chings) Schezwan sauce
salt

Shallow fry paneer peices with oil to a golden brown color.
Heat oil in a wok, add ginger, garlic, bell pepper and red onions. Saute to get the onions translucent.
Add all the sauces, salt, green chillies, paneer and spring onions.
Stir fry for a few mins to soften the spring onions and coat up the paneer well.
Serve hot as an appetizer.

Tawa Bhaji

Ingredients
2 big red onions
1 green bell pepper
1 medium potato
cauliflower florets
2 green chillies slit
1 tomato
1 inch pc ginger finely chopped
paneer cubes
2tsp kitchen king masala
1 tsp paneer makkanwala powder
1/4 tsp haldi
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp kasoori methi
cilantro for garnish
2 tbsp oil
salt to taste


Method
In a kadai, heat oil, add onion, fry potaoes cooked for a few minutes and add the spices and stir for a few minutes. Mix in rest of the veggies and paneer, saute to crisp the vegies, simmer and cook for a few minutes, covered. Garnish with cilantro and crushed kasoori methi. Serve with paratha/ chapathi.
G's note: there is no added water to this dish and the veggies have a slight crunch to them and not completely cooked.

Thalipeet

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Rice Flour
1/2 cup Gram Flour
1 tbsp Semolina
2 cups cabbage
1 medium Onion,
2-4 Green Chillies,
Coriander Leaves,
1/2 tsp Jeera Powder
1/2 tsp dhaniya Powder
1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
Salt to taste
Oil for roasting


Method:
Finely chop the cabbage, onion, green chillies and coriander leaves.
Mix all the ingredients except oil it into stiff dough using water.
Heat the griddle and apply oil. Keep a small ball in the centre of the griddle and flatten using a ladle or fingers to make the thinnest roti you can.
I also make a small hole in the centre, like the way traditional Maharastrians make to pour a tsp of oil. Oil is applied in the centre as well as the edges of the thalipeeth. Cook evenly and roast both sides to crisp.
Serve with yogurt and pickle.

cabbage bhaji

Ingredients
Cabbage -small, about 1 lbs, finely chopped
potato - 1 small, thinly sliced
Green chilies 3, chopped
Turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon
Oil 3 tbsp.
Curry leaves 1 sprig
Mustard seeds 1 tsp

Heat the oil in the kadhai and put the mustard seeds and once they start spluttering add green chillies and curry leaves. Add potato,cabbage and turmeric, cover and cook the cabbage( without adding any water) till done. Add salt and keep stirring the bhaji every once in awhile to roast the vegetable.
Serve with hot Rice or Chappathis.

bhindi fry bhaji

Ingredients
Bhindi/ lady's finger/okra 1 lb
garlic, 3 cloves, crushed
jeers 1/2 tsp. crushed
turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
red chilli powder 1 tsp
amchur powder 1/2 tsp
salt

Method:
Cut okra into slices and keep aside.
Heat oil in a pan add jeera and bhindi and fry till most of the sliminess has disappeared and the bhindi has browned its edges. this will take about 15 mins.
Add amchur powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt. Fry for a few more mins to evenly coat the bhindi and get it crispy.