Golibaje

Ingredients:
2 cups Maida
Thick Sour Curds 1/2 Cup
Ginger,Finely Chopped
Coconut Pieces
green chillies 6, finely chopped
1 Tbsp Sugar
Baking soda 1/4 tsp
curry leaves, cut up
jeera 1/2 tsp

Oil for frying
Salt to taste

Method:
In a bowl mix maida, chilies,ginger,coconut pieces,jeera, sugar,soda and salt. add the curds to make a batter as thick as idli batter consistency.
Heat oil for frying. Drop spoon fulls into hot oil and the bhajis should float immediately if the the batter is done right. Fry till the outside of bhajis are crisp and golden. This bhaji is served typically with ginger chutney.

Pathrodo

Another fav amchi dish!

Ingredients:
20 colocassia leaves
1 cup whole moong
1 cup of shredded coconut
1/2 cup rice
10-15 dry red chillies(roasted in little oil)
One lemon-sized tamarind
1/2 tsp hing
Salt to taste

METHOD:
Soak the whole moong and rice for 4-6 hrs. Grind with roasted red chillies, tamarind, coconut, hing, and salt to paste. Now add the whole moong and rice to this paste and grind to make a coarse paste.

Devein the colocasia leaves. Pick the biggest leaf to use as a wrap, place stem side up, apply the paste to the leaf.


Next layer smaller leaves on the first one, applying the paste until it is( about 8 leaves) thick. Fold the two elongated sides to give a neat edge & now roll and form a log. Make all the rolls in a similar manner.

Place all the rolls into the pressure cooker and steam for about 20-25 mins, depending on the thickness of the roll. Remove from pressure cooker and let cool for about 5 mins. Make 1" slices. Serve with coconut oil.


It can be eaten as is, tawa fried using rawa for coating it, can be made into an upkari or deep fried. Possibilities galore!

vanilla buttercream

This is a classic version of butter cream done in most bakeries. This works best to make roses as well as all the decorations.
If using to make rose, I recommend taking a few scoops of icing in a bowl and adding a couple table spoons of confectioners sugar to stiffen it. This is sure to hold the shape well and is very well liked for the taste by the grown ups as well as the kiddies.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup white vegetable shortening
1/2 cup milk (I used 2 percent)
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 pounds confectioner's sugar, sifted

Place the butter, shortening, milk, salt, and vanilla, in a mixing bowl and beat until all the wet ingredients are well incorporated.
Add one pound of sugar and beat at low speed until combined, then gradually add in the other pound of sugar. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to avoid sugar clumps in the final product. Beat on high speed, for 8 to 10 minutes, until the frosting is very light and fluffy.


chocolate buttercream:
To make this into chocolate frosting, add 1cup of dutch processed cocoa powder. and a splash of milk to acheive right consistency.

Bafat powder

This recipe is from my friends Mom who makes this to flavour pork and chicken.

Ingredients
Bedagi Chillies 2 kilo.
any other variety of red chili 1 kilo.
Coriander seeds 250 gms
Cumin seeds - 100 gm
Mustard 50 gm
Pepper 50 gm
Turmeric Powder 50 gm
Cinnamon and clove 50 gm

Method
Dry all the above ingredients in an warm oven or sun dry for a couple days. The purpose to to remove any moisture if any.Powder and store in a tight container.

Mix and match varieties of red chillies if preferred for the color. Here Bedagi is used mainly to color and other variety for hotness, since Bafat powder available in India are bright red in color.

Dal vada

Ingredients
Chana dal, 2 cups
green chillies, 8-12
coconut, 1/2 cup of fine pieces
ginger, finely grated
cilantro leaves 10 stems, finely chopped
onions 1 small

Soak chana dal for 2-3 hrs.
Grind coarsely with green chillies and ginger. Add finely chopped onions,cilantro and coconut pieces. Deep fry in medium hot oil and fry till the vada's are completely cooked and crisp.

Tiramisu

Ingredients
8 ounces mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp Dark rum

8 oz heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup of espresso
1 cup skim milk
2 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 packages of Italian style lady fingers
6 oz bittersweet chocolate
6 oz milk chocolate

Allow the mascarpone to come to room temperature. Beat the rum and 1/4 cup of sugar into the mascarpone until it is smooth. Set it aside.

Beat the cream, 1/3 cup of sugar, and 2 tsp vanilla into a bowl and mix with a whisk on high until soft peaks have formed. Set it aside.

Combined the hot espresso and the 2 tablespoons of sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the skim milk and stir. Set aside.

Grate the two types of chocolate using a food processor or a grater. Keep them separate.
Fold the mascarpone and whipped cream into each other (gently).

Dip a ladyfinger into the coffee mixture, and remove it and place it into a 9″ x 9″ pan. Repeat this until the bottom of the pan is lined with soaked ladyfingers.
Layer on half of the mascarpone/whipped cream combo, smooth it out with an offset spatula. Sprinkle the bittersweet chocolate.
Add another layer of the soaked ladyfingers, the rest of the mascarpone/ whipped cream combo, and finally the grated milk chocolate. Wrap well with saran wrap and refrigerate several hours or even better, overnight.

Serves 9 - 12 depending on the size of the serving.

Kaarathe talasani

Talasani's usually are vegetable dishes that are seasoned with garlic and red chillies and saute'd till cooked without adding any liquid in it.
Other vegetables prepared similar way are
* Karathe (bitter gourd)
* vaingan ani masinga sang (brinjal and drumsticks)
* vali ani bikkand (malabar spinach and jackfruit seeds).

Ingredients:
bitter gourd , 3 medium sized
onions, 3 medium, sliced thin
mustard seeds 1 tsp
red chillie powder 1/2 tsp
jaggery 2 tbsp,
green chillies 3-5 slit
tamarind pulp 2 tbsp
salt
oil 2 tbsp

Method:
Make thin slices of kaarathe/bittergourd. Add salt leave aside for 30 minutes. Squeeze out the liquid as much as possible to remove the bitterness.

Heat a kadai add oil season with mustard seeds,sliced onions, green chillies, saute for a few minutes. Add sliced bitter gourd and stir fry for a few minutes till the gourd gets a little crispy. Add red chilli powder,tamarind pulp, salt, jaggery and mix well. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.Serve hot with rice and daalithoy.

Masala Dosa bhaji + and chutney

DOSA
Rice- 2 cups
Urad Dal- 1/2 cup
chana dal 1/2 cup
Fenugreek seeds- 1tsp
poha 1 cup
Salt

Method
Soak all the ingredients separately overnight
Allow the batter to ferment in a warm place for 8 to 10 hours. Add the salt to the batter after it has fermented.



Potatoes 4 large, Boiled and peeled
Onion 2 Large, thinly sliced
Green Chilies 8-10, finely chopped
Curry leaves- 6 to 8
Ginger 1 inch piece, finely chopped
Coriander 15 stems, finely chopped
Mustard seeds 1/2 Tsp
Urad Dal 1/2 Tsp
Channa Dal 1 1/2 Tsp
Turmeric 1/2 Tsp
Oil 3 Tbsp
Salt

Method
Heat oil in a kadai, add the mustard seed, after they splutter, add the urad dal,channa dal and allow to turn slightly brown. Add the green chilies, ginger, curry leaves, onions, and saute till onions become transparent, then add turmeric powder, mashed potatoes and salt well and. Turn off the heat. Garnish with the fresh coriander leaves.

GARLIC CHUTNEY

Red chillies 15-20
onion 1small
garlic 10 cloves
tamarind
coconut 1 cup
coriander seeds 1/2 tsp

Grind dry without adding any liquid. Smear it on the inside of the dosa while the dosa is still roasting in the pan.


coriander chutney
1 bunch coriander leaves
8 green chillies
coconut 1/2 cup
salt
Grind the ingredients into a fine paste with as little water required for grinding.

BHAJI

Anjeer Ice cream

Ingredients
15 dried figs
3 cups heavy whipping cream
4 tbsp honey
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 can(14 oz) evaporated milk
3 tbsp condensed milk
1 tbsp vanilla essence
chopped nuts for garnish

Method
Chop dried figs, soak them in warm water to plump up(figs here were soaked overnight in the refrigerator).Pulverize to a coarse pulp.

Beat chilled whipping cream to soft peaks. Add evaporated milk and confectioner's sugar and fold the milk into the cream gently making sure to not deflate the whipped cream. Add honey, vanilla essence, chopped nuts and the fig pieces( drained,without the water).
Churn in the ice cream maker as per instructions or follow the steps below to achieve crystal free ice cream.
Set in a bowl and freeze it for a little more than an hour.Remove from freezer stir until it becomes smooth and creamy breaking the ice crystals, if formed. Now set it to freeze again 6-8 hours, or until the ice cream is set.

Remove few mins before ready to serve, scoop out the ice cream into individual bowls and serve with sliced figs or set it in molds like I did.

Masala dosa

The pic on the top is what I desire to achieve........on the bottom is what I actually did. Of course, my pic doesn't look as good...........its missing the banana leaf,chutney sambhar,bhaji...the works.

Ingredients
1 cup urad dal
3 cups rice ( I use Ponni raw rice
1 tsp methi seeds
1 cup poha
1/2 cup maida
2 tbsp sugar, yes, u read it right!

Soak rice and urad dal separately. Soak methi with poha. Grind about 6 hrs later. Grind Urad dal, methi and poha for about 30 mins making sure all the daal have now become into a fluffy smooth batter.
Remove the batter and then grind the rice to a paste. Rice should be ground fine. To make sure if your rice batter is the right consistency, the feel of the batter is something close to the finest rava you find in the grocery store.Add salt and let the batter ferment.
Just before u make the dosa, mix sugar and maida with a little water and add it to the batter.This helps make crispier dosa.

Flan

Ingredients
1 can evaporated milk
1 can condensed milk
10 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract for the caramel
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup water

Procedure
Mix the sugar & water in a saucepan boil until the sugar caramelize.
Pour the caramelized sugar into aluminum moulds.
Spread the caramel on the bottom of the mould.

Mix the evaporated milk, condensed milk, egg yolks and vanilla by hand . Pour the mixture on top of the caramel on the aluminum moulds,halfway up.
To bake the Leche Flan, place the mould on a larger baking pan half filled with very hot water.
Pre-heat oven to 370 degrees before baking. Bake for 45 mins.
Let it cool then refrigerate.

Serving
To loosen the Leche Flan, run a thin knife around the edges of the mould. Place a platter on top of the mould and quickly turn upside down to position the golden brown caramel on top.

Kurle ghashi

This dish like many others varies at every konkani kitchen. Some add roasted ingredients along with basic coconut masala (masolu: coconut, roasted red chillies, tamarind & salt), some just use masolu with the addition of roasted onions. Many many experiments later, I stuck with this keeper dish. A perfect blend of heat from chillies & spices that goes great with the sweetness of crab meat, also let me not forget to mention the mesmerizing aroma of this ghashi is appetizimg in itself that invites crab lovers to the table.

Ingredients:

Alaskan king Crabs about 3 lbs

1 medium sized Onion, thinly diced

1/2 cup Coconut

2 tsp coriander seeds

15 seeds methi

Red chillies 7-9

Tamarind paste 1/4tsp

Oil 2 tsp

Salt

Method
Heat 1 tsn of oil and fry coriander and methi seeds. Grind them with red chillies, coconut and tamarind to a smooth paste.

Heat remaining oil and fry onions till they are slightly brown. Add ground masala, salt and cook for a couple of mins. Now add the crabs, stir, cover & cook for around 20 Min's.

Great dish with white rice .

tips:

Since I usually buy cooked crabs and it is refrigerated, I add about 2 cups of water in a biggest pan I have, place the crabs in a colander and steam the crabs for 20 mins without letting the water touch the crabs , so it is heated well throughout. Then steamed crabs are then added to the masala and brought to a rolling boil.

G's note: Traditionally, this dish has no turmeric in it, I tweaked a teaspoon of it just to brighten my dish. I'm not a rule follower anyway! :P

Kalakand

Ingredients:
1 Tub ricotta cheese (14ounces)
1/2 Tin condensed milk
1/4 Cardamom powder

For Garnishing:
2 Tblsp almond chopped finely
2 Tblsp pistachios chopped finely

Method:
Heat the ricotta cheese in a heavy pan till it gets dry and all the water evapourates.
Add half a tin condensed milk and again stir it on medium heat till it gets dried up.
To this add powdered cardamom and stir till it becomes very thick.
Grease a dish with butter and pour the mixture.
Garnish it with chopped pistachios & almonds.
Cut it into small squares.

Jeera Meeri khadi

Ingredients:
3/4 cup coconut,
1 tsp cumin
10 peppercorns
2 dry red chillies
7-8 garlic cloves, peeled
1/4 tsp tamarind paste
salt to taste
2 tsp oil

Method:
Heat half a teaspoon of oil in a pan. Fry the cumin, peppercorns and chillies until well toasted and aromatic. Let cool, then grind with coconut, tamarind and 2 cloves of garlic into a fine paste
Transfer to a sauce pan, add a cup of water and simmer over moderate heat.
Season to taste.
crush 4-5 cloves of garlic.
Temper with the remaining oil and garlic cloves and place on heat . Pour the tempering over khadi and serve hot.

My Sunday lunch

Pictured here is Rice with Dalithoy,Masoor sarupkari, beans upkari ani sungta pannaupkari. It was as Yummy as it looked.

Malai kulfi

Ingredients:

8 oz mango pulp
Coconut Milk -1 can
everest masala( dry fruits mix)- 3 tbsp
cool whip- 1 tub
condensed milk -6 oz
dry nuts-pistachio,almond,cashew nuts
saffron strands- about 2 pinches.


Method:
Mix all except cool whip to a well blended mixture.Fold in the cool whip,
prepare the bowl by sprinkling a little dry nut powders and saffron strands as a garnish, then pour malai into kulfi molds or into individual ramekins.
while serving, invert the kulfi into a plate to have the bottom of the ramekin as the top to beautify your creation.

Variation:
Mango pulp can be substituted with chikoo.
Coconut milk can be substituted with evaporated milk.
There are no rules when u make this recipe as this is a no fail recipe.

In the past when I made these, I have divided the malai into 3 and added mango to one part, pistachio to another and just saffron to the third to make it tri coloured and poured it into layers into a loaf pan.Just to achievethe look of the ice cream slabs we used to eat at "Ideals" in India.

Pictured above.......mango,raspberry and pistachio kulfi.

Onion Bhaji

Ingredients:
2 medium onions, finely sliced
1 cup besan
chopped cilantro
6 minced green chillies
1 tsp cumin seeds,crushed
1 tsp coriander seeds,crushed
1tsp fennel seeds(saunf),crushed
salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method:
Mix salt into the onions.Add the rest of the ingredients into the onions and sprinkle a little water to make a thick batter.
Heat the oil and add teaspoons of batter into the oil, fry till bhajjis are golden. Drain on paper towels. serve with ketchup and coriander chutney.

Tomato Rasam

Kamath Maayi made this especially for me this morning and I loved this Rasam with a twist.Here's the recipe.

Tomato-4
Jeera -2 tbsp
pepper -2 tbsp
garlic -10cloves
turmeric-1/4 tsp
red chillies-4
curry leaves
cilantro
salt
oil


Boil tomatoes in 3 cups of water and mash it.
Add salt.
Crush jeera and pepper in coffee grinder and set it aside.
Peel and crush garlic.
Heat oil for tempering.Add mustard seeds, redchillies,garlic,jeera pepper pwd,turmeric and curry leaves.Saute for a couple min's and add this to the rasam. Finally,add cilantro.

Banh Khoai Mi

A dear friend of mine Nuong, shared her dessert with me one afternoon and I absolutely loved this. It wasn't as sweet to be called a dessert but this is as sweet as they eat in Vietnam.

These slices of goodness was flavorful and were a perfect medley of coconut and Yucca............which are my favourite by the way. .....sort of reminded me my childhood since I remember eating something similar during the little time I spent my summer's at our farm house by the Coast.
MY memory of eating this is vague but I do remember eating this steamed and not baked................maybe it's a dream !
Either way, my friend got me a big dish of this rich goody cake and I wanted to post this before I forget. Now let me go enjoy my Banh Khoai Mi.



2 packages of frozen khoai mi (grated cassava)--found in the frozen section at most Asian markets
1 package of frozen shredded young coconut (found next to the frozen cassava)
1 can of condensed milk
2 Tablespoon of white flour

Preheat oven to 400. Combine all the above ingredients, and pour onto 2 square baking pans. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Don't overbake as the Banh Khoai Mi may become too dry. To serve, cut into square bars.

Surnoli

It's way early to be up on a Sunday but I have been thinking about posting this for a while and it's a good time for me to put my thoughts here when the house is creepily quiet. Maybe that's the reason I cant sleep in.This recipe should have been posted here for a while in fact this should have been my first post for my blog since I get great feedback's whenever I make this for my family and my extended family.
This is one recipe that I have done more than a 100 times in a hope to get it right. My V and M loved it so much that I was on a mission to master this and I feel confident in saying that I did.
Whenever we have our cousins and amchi families get-together this is one of the recipe that I frequently make since I am very sure of the outcome. I don't have to worry if the proportions are right or if the batter will ferment on time, I dont have to put a lot of thought into breakfast eats when it comes to idli, dosa's and surnoli's. My cousins can vouch for that.


Rice – 4 cups
coconut 1 cup
poha 1 cup
methi 2 tsp
Turmeric powder 2 tsp
Yogurt 3 tbsp
1 slice of white bread....yes u read it right !
Jaggery
Salt to taste

Method
Soak the rice and the methi seeds for 3 to 4 hours.

In a separate bowl, wash and soak the beaten rice , 15 minutes before u start grinding with warm water. Drain in a colander.Soak bread in warm water too.

Now grind together the beaten rice, bread slice and coconut to a fine paste with no water . Add rice and methi. The batter should be of thick consistency.

To this batter add yogurt, jaggery, turmeric, and salt to taste.

Leave the batter overnight in the summer and atleast 24 hrs in the winter. Make thick dosas The dosas will turn out very fluffy. Serve hot with ghee or butter.

Tips
I usually have buttermilk powder ( found in baking isle at most grocery stores) on hand for this purpose to use on the days I don't have yogurt. Use 2 tbsp while u add turmeric.

Mushti polo

There's something about this soft, spongy goodness that hits the spot. This is one among my 3 favourite kinds of dosa's that I can eat any given day............the other 2 are pannpolo and surnoli...Yum

2 cups rice
1/2 cup Urad dal
1 cup poha
1/2tsp methi seeds
1/2 cup coconut
1 fistful cooked rice
Oil
Salt

Method:
Soak rice and daals in water for around 3hrs. Grind it with coconut. Add soaked poha and cooked rice and grind to a very smooth paste. Mix salt and keep it overnight for fermentation.

I sometimes use one musti(fistful) leftover rice since that's what makes it musti polo. I remember Mauma using ukudo tandla sheath for the musti and you cant mimic the taste with surai tandulache sheath.
This dosa is supposed to be thick , not spread around too much and also not needed to turn over.

Serve hot with any chutney.
My favourite chutney is either kotombari chutney or hing chutney.

Hing-ah-chutney

This is a great accompaniment to any dosa and I especially love this with musti polo.

ingridients
1 cup shredded coconut
6 dry red chillies
1/4 tsp tamarind paste
1/2 tsp hing powder
1/4 tsp urad dal

for seasoning
mustard
2 red chillies
curry leaves
a pinch of hing


Heat a tsp of oil and roast red chillies and urad dal in it. Take it off of heat and add hing powder. Grind coconut,urad dal, tamarind, hing and red chillies into a smooth paste. Transfer to a bowl.

Make a seasoning of mustard , red chillies, hing and curry leaves and garnish the chutney.

Pann polo

I always loved this dosa and couldnt decide if it was the flavour or if it is the smell that comes to my memory first.
My Mauma was so good at this and I remember seeing her sprinkling the batter on the iron griddle instead of pouring it and wondered how she got it to exactly land every droplet in the griddle. When I followed her technique at first.......Oh boy............there was more cleanup than panpolo on my plate........lol.


cup white rice
2 tbsp coconut,
salt

Soak rice in enough water for 3-4 hrs . Wash and rinse rice, grind together with coconut and water to a very smooth paste. Add salt and water to make a thin batter.

Splash a serving spoon full of batter on a hot griddle. Cover and cook on one side till the top surface is cooked. You may leave it a minute or two so that edges get crispy.

Serve it with chutney.


My M I L makes godda soi with this and in my Mom's house the preffered side is Batate Song or alambe song .
My kid's love this as is. Well, as for me............I'm in my happy place just with the polo.

Sannapolo

Mauma used to make this sannpolo whenever there was tender Karela seeds ( white spongy insides which have not formed seeds yet)or paddole seeds. I loved this roasted dosas and havent had sannapolo's as good as Mauma made since I was alittle girl.

Ingredients

1/2 cup karela/snakegourd seeds, roughly chopped
1/2 cup rice , soaked
2 tbsp coconut
7-8 red chillies
2 pinches hing
salt to taste

Method
Grind coarsely the rice ,red chillies,coconut and salt.
Add chopped seeds and hing.
Pat on a hot griddle. Poke bout 5 holes. Add few drops of oil in those holes. Cover and let it cook on a low flame.
Flip and cook till you see brown spots on both the sides.
Serve hot with DaliThoy & rice.

After posting this recipe..........a friend mentioned the use of coconut and lack thereof in my post...........lol.
After a emergency India call, had to make the correction and add the most important ingridient so here's to u my friend........2 TBS COCONUT.

Peda

I helped my friend make this on Navrathri since she planned to make sweets for all the families she knew around our town. The recipe looked easy...too easy to taste good. I was skeptical at first but it's not my place to ruin her excitement or to judge her culinary expertise. So I went ahead being the extra sets of hands with the peda making. We made 3 batches that gave atleast 150 pedas and in the meantime had a great time catching up on our lives. Peda was so-so. A runner up for the store brought( read carefully,not bakery ones)
The only alteration I would make would be to roast the milk powder in a khadai after the microwave process. It sure did need the roasty khova flavor which u don't get in the microwave.

Microwave Pedha - makes about 24

Ingredients
3/4 stick sweet cream, unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup milk powder
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/8 tsp nutmeg powder
5 cardamoms, peeled, crushed
few strands of saffron

Garnish
charoli or almond slivers

Method
1. Melt the butter by placing it in a microwave safe container. Microwave for 30 seconds or more till butter is melted.
2. Add dry milk powder, sweetened condensed milk, nutmeg, cardamom powders and saffron.
3. Microwave for 3 minutes.
4. Take out. Mix well. Microwave for 1 minute
5. Take out. Mix well. Microwave again for 1 minute.
6. Take out. Mix. Let it cool down. Pretty repetative but atlest we are not slogging at the stove.
7. Knead with your hands when it is warm to touch, not HOT.
8. Roll into pedhas of desired sizes. Flatten the pedhas.
9. Garnish with charoli or almonds on top.

Note -
1. Microwave cooking time varies for each microwave. Please use your own judgement.
2. Make sure that microwave container is deep as the condensed milk mixture tends to boil.

Ghosale ghire chutney

I always loved this chutney and never knew the main ingredient behind this delicious chutney. Cooking for myself  made me reliase how care-free my life was until a few years ago. I never appreciated the food readily made and  served on the table as much as I do now. To live a life of a child is a bliss (only to a grown up)!

Surprise ingredient,  ghosale scraps  tastes so yum? Who'd have come with such an lip smacking recipe? My favourite combination is this chutney with rice and dailithoy of course! Bhajo on the side would be heaven!

Unfortunately, right now, I dont have a pic of chutney...but will post one soon.

Ingredients:
 skin(the sharp edges) of 3 ridge gourd
1 cup coconut
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3-5 green chilies
1/4 tsp tamarind paste
Ghee
Salt

Method:
Heat ghee in a pan. Add cumin seeds. When they start popping, add green chilies and ridge gourd skin. Fry for about 7-8 min's till the color of the skin starts changing color. Keep it aside.
Add coconut to the same pan and on low heat roast it for about 5 Min's.
Grind all together with tamarind and salt.

Pineapple kesri baath

Kesri Baath is a south Indian version of the sooji halwa.
Usually served as a prasada on the Satyanarayana Swamy poojas, which I love.
My Mom use make this with a twist. Sometimes just kesri baath,sometimes with pineapple or banana peices and sometimes with cocoa powder.
I especially love this one.

1 cup Rawa
1 and 1/2 cup Sugar
Water 2 cups
Saffron 1 pinch soaked in a tablespoon of warm water
1 can Pineapple, finely chopped.
3 tbsp Ghee


In a heavy bottomed pan,heat ghee and add rawa and roast till fragrant. Take it off the heat.

Combine water, sugar and saffron in another pot and simmer till the sugar dissolves. Take the pan off of heat since adding rawa usually splatters all over the place.
Trust me on this....
Drop the warm toasted sooji into the hot syrup one tablespoon at a time stirring vigorously. Make sure there are no lumps. Put a lid and cook for a few minutes.

When this is done stir in the pineapple pieces. Cover and cook for a few more minutes. This dessert can be served either hot or cold.

Chitranna

I always loved any dish made out of rice....puliyogere,mango rice,bisibele baath, chitranna and the list goes on.............
Bottom line, I can eat rice for any meal.
Typically we make this dish when we have leftover white rice and when served would tease Mom by asking whether someone missed their dinner last night.I especially love the one with mango peices and would request to add extra mangoes for me.
Since no one in my family here eats this, I make it when I have some leftover White rice or when I don't feel like making a curry to go with it. ........and of course to relish my childhood taste.


Ingredients
cooked Rice 2cups,
Lime juice 2tsp
Mustard seeds 1tsp
cumin seeds 1tsp
Urad dal 1tsp
Channa dal 1tsp
Curry leaves 1 sprig
Red chillies 3-4
A small piece of ginger, finely chopped
Turmeric powder 1/4tsp
Peanuts 8-10
oil 1tsp
Salt as required
Coconut grated
cilantro


Heat oil and add dals,mustard seeds,curry leaves,cumin seeds,red chillies,peanuts and ginger.

When the dals turn brown,add the turmeric and ginger.Fry for another minute till the mustard crackles.

Now add the lime juice and reduce heat.Heat through and remove.Mix this with rice as required and add salt to taste.

Garnish with cilantro.

Khaman Dhokla

For the dhokla
1 cup besan
4 green chillies
1/4 tsp ginger paste
1/4 tsp garlic paste
3 tbsp vegetable oil
salt to taste
1/4 tsp asafoetida (hing)
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

for the tempering
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 gren chillies, slit
1/4 tsp hing
10 curry leaves

Garnish2 tbsp grated coconut
chopped cilantro

Mix the ingridients for dhokla with just enough water to make a batter the consistency of idli's.
In a cooker vessel........spray it with a nonstick cooking oil and pour the batter and cook immediately on high heat in a pressure cooker without the weight on it.
Cook for 15 min's.
15 min's later take out the vessel and invert the dhokla on a flat plate to cool a bit before cutting it in squares. In the meantime prepare for tempering by heating oil in a khadai and add mustard seeds,green chillies,jeera,curry leaves and hing.
Spread on the dhokla. Garnish with coconut and cilantro.

Matki Usal

1 cup Matki (Moth beans), sprouted
1 Onion, chopped
2 green chillies, slit
1/2 tsp Garlic Ginger paste
2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
2 tsp Garam Masala
½ tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Cumin Powder,freshly crushed
1 tsp Corriander Powder
1 Tomato, chopped
Corriander leaves
Oil
Salt to taste


1) Wash and soak matki for 5-6 hrs.
2) Drain water and put in thin wet cloth for sprouting
3)cook sprouted matki in cooker for 1 whistle (if cooked more, it will become mushy!)
4) Heat oil in a khadai, add ginger garlic paste,green chillies and onion.
5) Saute till onions turn translucent
6) Now add all spices and chopped tomatoes mix well
7) Add matki and salt and cook covered for 5-10 mins
8) Garnish with corriander. Serve hot with phulkas