Vada paav

Ingredients
potatoes - 2, boiled and mashed
green chillies - 6-8, finely chopped
cilantro - about 10 stems
garlic clove - 3, grated fresh
haldi - 1/2 tsp
hing - 1/4 tsp
salt
Paav
Green chutney
dry garlic chutney

For the batter:
besan - 1 cup
salt
red chilli pwd
haldi
soda
mix to make a smooth, lump free batter.


Mix together mashed aloo, hing, haldi, chopped green chillies, garlic paste, salt and cilantro. Make into balls, flatten and dip in batter, coat and fry.

Masala puri

One of the chaat only recognised in karnataka....scrutinized by a M'baiites that I know, on the fact that this dish is on the list of chaats all over M'lore and my Mom's fav among chaats.

Ingredients required for assembling of the said dish:
for each serving:
Green Peas Masala- about 2 cups
puris about 10
thin sev - 3 tbsp
onions - 1 tbsp
tomatoes - 1 tbs
cilantro - 1 tbsp
green chutney
tam - date chutney

Ingredients for Green peas masala
green peas- 3 cup, soaked for 4 hrs
onion-1, finely chopped
garlic- 2 cloves, crushed
green chutney(recipe below)-3 tbsp
turmeric- 1/2 tsp
red chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
Amchur powder-1/2 tsp
oil- 1 tbsp

Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add onion ang garlic and saute till translucent, not brown. Add turmeric, red chillie powder, amchur powder and green chutney and saute for about 5 mins. Add Green peas, salt and about 6 cups of water and pressure cook till peas are cooked completely.( Mine took 10 whistles to cook) Stir for even mixture of peas and spices and mash a few peas using the back of the spoon to thicken the masala. Done.

Although, I dont care for the order of the ingerdients that goes for this dish, I know a few friends who would patiently make a plate in the following order, just way it is served by my fav Chaat Gadiwalla - Shettre's dhaba a.k. a Shetty's Chaat stall.

Assembling of this chaat
1. crush puris
2. layer with green peas masala
3. onions, tomato, cilantro
4. tamarind-date chutney and green chutney
5. lastly, the sev

Fried Shrimp ' Olathiyathu'

This one is V's fav recipe for chicken or shrimp. The recipe is from a magazine 'Femina' from Jan 98 issue..the recipe is from the Southern basket collection called "ERATCHI OLATHIYATHU" ( fried mutton garnished with slivers of dry coconut). I have never cooked mutton but gave it a try with chicken and it was a sure hit among meat eaters. Sceptical about the feedback and convinced that it was empty praise, I had to give it a shot with shrimp and sure enough,it tasted awesome....if I may say so, myself!This is the picture that inspired my interest in cooking meat ( a vegan at that time) among 100 other recipes that is saved in a hope to cook it to My Crowd.


















Ingredients
Shrimp - 2 lbs
onions - 2, thinly sliced
tomato - 1,chopped
green chillies - 2, slit
ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp
coriander powder - 1 tbsp
red chilli powder - 1tsp
curry leaves - -2 sprig

garnish
fennel - 1/2 tsp, freshly pounded
red chillies - 2 whole
coconut pieces - 10 pcs ( I used 1 tbsp of grated coconut)
cilantro - 10 stems, finely chopped

Heat oil in a pan and fry the slice onions till golden brown, Add green chillies, ginger-garlic paste, and stir fry. Add red chilli powder, coriander powder, curry leaves and salt, fry till oil floats on the top. Add tomatoes and cook till masala is dry.
Toss shrimp/chicken, cook for a 7-10 mins and then add all the ingredients that was set aside for garnish: fennel, whole red chilli,coconut and cilantro and roast for a couple mins( this step releases roasted fennel aroma which) .
Serve as a starter.

Crab cakes

Spinach Artichoke Asiago dip

Ingredients
1 (14 ounce) can artichokes
1 cup spinach blanched or frozen
4 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup asiago cheese, shredded
salt and pepper

Directions
shred or chop blanched or frozen spinach in a blender or food processor.
chop artichoke hearts into quarters if they are larger than a thumb.
mix everything together in a medium sized bowl.
Add salt, pepper and more shredded cheese to your taste.
Transfer to a heat resistant casserole and sprinkle more cheese on the top.
Broil for 8-10 mins in a 375F oven.

Chilli Paneer

Ingredients
400g paneer, cut into rectangle pieces
red onion
green bell pepper
yellow bell pepper
orange bell pepper
ginger
garlic

For the sauce
tomato ketchup 4tbsp
soy sauce 2 tbsp
hot sauce 2 tbsp
chilli flakes 1 tsp
Spring onions, finely chopped
Salt

Shallow fry paneer pieces. have all the vegetables cut in big cubes and ginger and garlic finely chopped.

Make the sauce using all the ingredients for sauce.

Heat oil in a kadai and combine all the vegetables and saute well. When the vegetables are half done, and are sizzling, add the sauce and salt and mix well. Serve hot with fried rice.

Karbev chutney pitto

Curry leaves about 1 cup
dried coconut/ copra- 1/2 cup
Red chilies – 10-15
Coriander seeds – 1/4 cup
jeera – 1/2 cup
Garlic - 3 cloves
Tamarind paste–1/4 tsp
Salt

Dry roast coconut,coriander seeds, jeera, and red chillies and set aside.
Roast crushed garlic and curry leaves seperately and grind dry along with the other roasted ingredients except tamarind.
In a dry pan add the ground chutney powder and tamarind paste and roast to rome moisture from the tam paste. Cool and store upto a month

Batate gojju

Potato gojju is konkani side dish, that is usually prepared when we are running out of ideas for a side to go with rice and a curry...although, it rarely happens....this is the second choice of potato dish , first being batate saung.
The same recipe is used to make Vaingana gojju( eggplant/ brinjal) where the eggplant is flame roasted, peeled and mashed up. Yumm!

Ingredients
Boiled potatoes – 2-4
onion - 1/2 a cup, finely chopped
Green chillies -4, finely chopped
Fresh grated coconut- about 1 tbsp
Corriander leaves chopped- 2 tbsp, finely chopped
Tamarind – 1/4 tsp
coconut oil - 1 tsp

Ingredients for Seasoning:
Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Hing powder – 1/2 Teaspoon

Mash the potatoes and add all the ingredients adding a little water.
Season and add it to the mashed gojju. This requires no cooking.

Keerla neeliche sukke

Keerla neeli is the heart of tender bambo shoots. For those of you who are still confused and are familiar with artichokes, the same rule applies where the outer skin is discarded and the center of the vegetable is typically relished in any delicacy.This dish is prepared along with crushed bikkand ( jackfruit seeds).

Ingredients
tender Bamboo shoots/ keerlu - 2 cups, chopped fine
bikkand /jack fruit seeds - 10 seeds

Coconut - 1 cup
Tamarind - 1 tsp
Jaggery 1-3 tbsp
Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
Red Chilli's - 6-8
Salt

For the seasoning
Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves 2 sprigs
Oil


Method:
With a little oil, fry urad dal, coriander seeds and red chillies. Grind roasted ingredients with tamarind and salt to a fine paste.

In a kadai, heat Oil and season with mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add bamboo shoots and bikkand till they are almost cooked. Add ground masala and jaggrey and cook completely.
Serve as a side dish with rice.

Moong + keerla ghashi

Ingredients
Moong / green gram – 2 cups
keerlu / bamboo shoots - 1 cup
Salt

For the Masala
coconut – 1 cup
Red chillies – 6
Tamarind paste -1 tsp

For the seasoningOil – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Curry leaves – 2 sprigs

Method
Soak moong (green gram) overnight.
Wash it well and tie it in a cotton cloth, keep it in a container with lid and keep aside to sprout for about 24 hrs. It can be washed every few hrs, but, I usually leave my lentils/legumes undisturbed during the sprouting process.
Wash the sprouted moong well and remove the skins that float on the top.

With a little oil, roast the red chillies and grind it along with coconut, tamarin and salt.

Cook sprouted moong, in a heavy bottomed vessel for about 10 mins. This will have some more moong skin floating on the top. Though tedious, it is always removed before u proceed with next step.

Add bamboo shoot peices to the half cooked moong and cook both completely. Add the ground masala and boil well.

Season with oil mustard seeds, broken red chilli and curry leaves and add this to the curry.

OTHER CURRIES YOU MAY LIKE :
Tori kadgi ghashi
kurle ghashi

Taikilo ambodo / dangar

Thaikilo and marvala paan are both wild greens. Tikilo resembles methi leaves which grows especially during rainy season and Marvala paan resembles alva paan which mysteriously grows on trees.
Both the greens can be prepped in similar way using the recipe below. I don't think these are available in the U.S which is sad, but I always get to these delicacies on my visit back home.
My mom makes this special dish, always sending a few people on a mission to get these two rarely found greens along with gud-gud alambo .

Ingredients
4 cups finely chopped taikilo or Marvala paan
1 cup rice
1/4 cup urad dal
12-16 red chillies
salt

oil for deep frying
Rice flour for coating the ambodo/vada.

Soak rice for 2 hrs. Dry roast urad dal till light brown.
Grind rice, urad dal, red chillies and salt.to a coarse consistency with the minimum water required.Mix chopped greens.
Heat oil in a kadai. Make small flat balls from the greens mixture. Coat the ambodo/vada with rice flour and dep fry.

Surna koot

Ingredients
Yam about 3 cups, cut in small cubes
8 red chillies
1/2 cup coconut
1 tsps mustard seeds
1/4 tsp hing
1/2 tsp methi seeds
tamarind
1 tsp oil
salt

Method
Heat oil in a kadai and add hing, red chillies, mustard seeds, methi seeds and roast till the mustard seeds splutter.Grind all the roasted ingredients with coconut, tamarind and salt to a fine paste.
Mix fried yam and oil in the ground masala,just before serving.

Karathe Kismuri

 There are two kinds to this kismuri. One being the basic mix of  grated coconut, onions, chillies, cilantro to the fried surn( yam), happol, karathe & sukkal sungat (dried shrimp) followed as kismuri 1 .

Masala kismuri

Second  kind being the ground masala  made with coconut & coriander seeds and red chillies; dry ground with tamarind. All  other ingredients & method remains the same.
The picture here shows ground masala kismuri.

Ingredients
1 bitter gourd ,finely sliced
oil to fry
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1/2 cup coconut
1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
2 tsp finely chopped coriander leaves
salt
Method
Add a tablespoon of salt to the bitter gourd peices and keep aside for 30 mins.
 After 30 mins, squeeze out as much liquid as you can and deep fry till dark brown and crisp. Keep aside.
 Mix together *coconut, *onions, *chopped green chillies, *coriander leaves and salt.
Just before serving add the fried bitter gourd and mix well.

The ingredients and method of preparation ( marked as *)remains the same for happola kismuri, vaingan gojju and batate gojju.

Ghar dudhi sali chutney

Ingredients:
Lauki peel - from 1 lauki/bottle gourd
Green chillies - 6 to 8
Tamarind - 1/4 tsp
Chana dal 1tbs
Urad dal 1tbs
Jeera - 1 tsp
Roast all ingredients in a little oil.

Grind with the ingredients below.
coconut 1/2 cup
cilantro 15 stems
salt.


For seasoning
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Oil - 1 teaspoon
curry leaves

Season the chutney .

Shevai

My 100th recipe had to be another amchi fav, breakfast eats...SHEVAI.
A big thanks to a dear friend who let me borrow the dhanthe for the authentic ' shevai pilche' experience. Thank's R, anytime u want to eat shevai (come along with the dhanthe), let me know.

Grease the cup of the shevai dhante.
Have the pressure cooker ready with boiling water.

Grease steel (drinking) glasses.


Fill the gllasses with the batter and steam for 15 mins.
Unmold the cooked batter.
Press the dough and make shevai similar to the pic below.

If you are an Amchi, you already know what I'm talking about....rest of you, make a konkani friend to eat this delicacy.

Ingredients:
Rice – 3 cups
ukudo thandul/boiled rice /kuthari/matta– 1 cup
coconut – 1 1/2 cups
Salt to taste

Method:
Soak the white rice for 4 hours.
For the ukudo thandul, I washed, dried and then powdered it coarsely in the coffee grinder.Soak the ukudo thandul powder, seperately for 4 hrs.
Now grind the regular rice with the coconut to a smooth paste. Mix it with the soaked boiled rice, salt and grind to get an even smooth batter mix.

In a konkani house, this is cooked in a special way : In a heavy bottomed pan, cook the batter on medium heat to evaporate excess moisture and bring the batter to upma consistency. While the cooked batter is still warm, not hot...form cylindrical shape ( typically the hands are dipped in cold water in the process, to prevent burning hands).
OR
like I did, apply oil to steel drinking glasses, pour batter into the glasses and steam like idlis in a pressure cooker for about 15 mins. Steaming this way was perfect size for my shevai press and I like the part where I don't have to handle my food too much.

Now grease the shevai dhanthe cup and press the warm idli molds to make shevai. If the batter gets cold, it becomes very hard to press.

This shevai is usually eaten with godda rossu which is sweet (freshly squeezed and strained) coconut juice mixed with jaggrey and ealichi powder.


The pic below is from my visit to India, Aug 07....Vikek was trying his hand at squeezing out the shevai for our breakfast and Miheer is curiously waiting for his breakfast. Gaurav, the boy looking the other way, didn't think SHEVAI for breakfast was that big a deal! It was very special to me and I am thankful to Mom and Vanni for a breakfast made just for me.

Masala Papad

Ingredients
8 papads
1 finely chopped onions
15 stem,finely chopped coriander
3-5 green chillies, finely chopped
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp amchur powder
salt to taste
oil for frying

Fry the papad.
Have all the ingredients mixed up.
Serve the papad and masala mixture separate.

Medhu Vada

Urad dal – 1 cup
Green chillies – 3, finely chopped
Ginger – half an inch, finely chopped
Pepper – 4 to 5 corns
coconut –thinly sliced
Salt

Oil for frying

Method
Soak urad daal for 3-4 hours and grind to smooth and thick batter using minimum water for grinding.
Add the chopped chillies,ginger, coconut pieces, crushed pepper and salt to taste. Form into the vada shape and deep fry in medium hot oil till crisp and reddish brown.
Serve it with idli and sambar.

Paav

After much thought and a lot of research for the desired texture, later, I tried my hand at making paav and made it a few times to achieve the laadhi paav taste. I am pretty pleased with the texture, the appearance and the taste.  My neighbour, my kids and  a good friend gave me a good review  as they were eating the warm bread, fresh out of the oven..... all the above combination made me one happy baker! I hope it will make the others who try this just as ecstatc.
 Makes 24 paav's
Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp dry yeast
5 tbsp oil
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 cups warm water

Method:
In a cup of warm water, dissolve sugar and add yeast. Let sit for 15 mins. The liquid should now look foamy on the surface, which assures the validity of yeast. (If it has no froth, discard & start fresh with a new yeast).

In a wide mixing bowl add flour,oil,salt and the remaining cup of warm water + the frothy yeast mixture. Knead to a smooth dough and set it aside for 3 hrs to raise and let the yeast do its magic.

3 hrs later,the dough should have been proofed up. Punch down to delflate.

Grease the pan with butter. I used 9 X 13 glass pan once and an oval porcelain casserole the other time and had no problem with removal of finished paav with both the kind of bakeware.

Make little balls out of the dough and place then in the pan leaving alittle gap between the bread so it has enough room to rise again. After arranging the dough balls, cover with saran wrap and let it sit in the oven for 2 hrs ( without heating the oven). The dough should now  have risen again and all the gaps should be filled up by now.

Remove pan from the oven. Pre heat the oven to 375F. Brush the top of the paav with beaten egg whites or milk. Egg whites gives a nice glaze and darker color ( the picture with the oval paav) and milk has a lighter colored tops (pic with the rectangle dish). Bake for 20 to 25 mins. Remove from the oven and let it cool on the counter top for about 15 mins.

Remove from pan and serve with the bhaji made for the Paav or the  vada paav. Yum!

Sweet Kichidi +Theel godd

Happy Sankranthi!!!

The first festival of the year!
Technicaly, accoording to Hindu calender, it isnt new year until April, but now that I have all the time on my hands , I just need a reason for a celebration.
Theel Godd, also known as 'yellu bella' in kannada is shared among the family, neighbours and any visitor coming home today which means spreading sweetness around you. Apart fron the ingredients listed below, back home, it is a tradition to give molded jaggery and cut up sugarcane pieces. Sweet kichidi and pan polo is traditionally cooked today in Konkani homes.
If u look closely, all festivals celebrated serves the same purpose... making food and sharing. In the end, it's all about food!



Sweet kichidi
rice 1 cup
split moong dal 1 cup
coconut 1cup
coconut milk 1 cup
jaggrey
ghee 3 tbsp
cahewnuts and raisins
Elaichi 1 tsp

Dry roast moong dal. Heat ghee in a pressure cooker, roastcahewnuts and raisins. Add rice, roasted dal, jaggrey, elaichi and coconut + coconut milk and 3 cups of water. Cook till done. While serving,(for unknown reasons)it is is garnished with chopped kadali bananas.Yumm!


This the the dry uncooked Theelgodd that are mixed together and served as a prasad.
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup jaggrey, Chopped into Pieces
1/2 Cup copra,chopped into small pieces
1/2 Cup Groundnuts
1/2 Cup roasted chanadal, putani
1/2 Cup white til

Method:
dry roast Groundnuts, til and putani
Mix all the ingredients together and share the sweetness.

Palak Paneer

Ingredients
Fried paneer 400 gms
Paalak 2 lbs
jeera 1/2 tsp
Dhaniya powder 1/2 tsp
red chilli powder 1/2 tsp
garam masala 1/2 tsp

For paste no 1,
onion, 1 small
tomato, 2 medium
ginger 1" pc
garlic 3 cloves
cilantro 10 sprigs
cinnamon 1/2" pc
cloves 4
green chillies 6

For paste no 2,
boiled and cooled paalak

Heat oil, roast jeera add chilli powder, dhaniya powder,garam masala and paste no 1. Fry the paste for 10-15 mins.Add paste no 2 and fried paneer, salt and cover and cook for another 5 mins.

Shrimp Masala

Another shrimp dish, aka kalwan, great with rice.... my style sungta randai .
Ingredients
Shrimp 2 lbs
onion 1, finely chopped
ginger garlic paste 1tsp
red chili powder 1 1/2 tsp
turmeric 1 tsp
tamarind 1/2 tsp
green chillies, 2 slit

for the green masala
coriander leaves- 10 stems
coconut 1/2 cup
green chillies 4
salt

Heat oil in pan and add onions, and green chillies .saute till it it softens.Add ginger-garlic paste, turmeric, red chilli powder and saute the mixture well.. Add the masala, shrimp, tamarind paste and salt. Cook till the shrimp till done.


Another variation to this...By RAKHI SHANBHAGH
All remains the same, except the masala
coconut
dhaniya
pepper
turmeric
red chilli

Bisibele Baath

This recipe is from my cousin sis, Shaila akka, who is an awesome cook. Most of her cooking is by guessing the amount of ingredients and the food I ate made by her has always tasted awesome to me...be it sungata pannaupkari, pathrodo or bisibele baath. During her visit here in spring last yr, for Mayank's b'day she made a big batch of this for us and all of us relished and ate it like there's no tomorrow.
Pics of the awesomeness to be posted soon!

For the masala
Coriander seeds- 3 tsp
jeera -2 tsp
chana dal-2 tsp
urad dal 2 tsp
cinn 1"
till 2tsp
garlic 6
onion
coconut 2 tbsp
curry leaves
green ch 3
red chh 10-12
methi 15
pepper 1/2 tsp
clove 2
ginger 1"pc
roast all of the above with a little oil
(I roasted all the ingredients together)
grind with the 4 ingredients below
1.tamarind paste 2 tsp
2.coriander leaves- about 25 stems.
3.turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
4.hing 1/2 tsp

For the seasoning
onions 2, chopped
tomato 2, chopped in big chunks
garlic 2 crushed
mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
urad dal 1/2 tsp
jeera 1/2 tsp
curry leaves 2 sprigs
red chillies 4, broken
cashew nuts and raisins about 10 each

Mixed vegetables about 3 cups- beans, carrots, cauliflower,potato, peas.
Basmati rice 2 cups
tuvar dal 1 cup
water to cook the above- 8 cups

Have the ground masala, vegetables, rice and tuvar dal ready.
In a pressure cooker heat 4 tbsp ghee, add all the ingredients for seasoning and saute. Add rice,dal,vegetables, ground masala, water and salt. cook till rice is done, which should take about 30 mins. Serve with ghee.

Appey / Appo

Appe/ appo...Call it anyway u want it, it is a sure hit among the kids.
It can be made with plain dosa batter, add chopped green chillie,onion and ginger for a spicy appo, offering for neivedyam made out of wheat,coconut, jaggery and elaichi and also with the surnoli batter......anyway u make it...it is happily savoured by all.
Here, I made mine with musti polo batter.

Molten lava cake

As the name sounds....This is all you need to achieve heavenly bliss!!!!!!!
One can picture this cake, inverted and broken just to let the melted centre ooze out.
My littlest cousin is very fond of pastries and I could only think of him as I was making this. Here's for u Sandy!

The pics will be posted here soon!


Ingredients:

1/2 C Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 tbs butter
1 egg + 1 yolk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 C confectioner's sugar, sifted
3 tbsp all-purpose flour, sifted


Preheat oven to 425 F and microwave butter and chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl for 45 seconds on high, then whisk until smooth.Add egg, egg yolk, sifted flour,powdered sugar and vanilla and whisk until smooth.Don't beat.

Grease individual tins with butter and flour the surface. Tap to remove any excess flour. Fill the molds/tins halfway and set in the oven for 13 to 15 mins. Remove while the centre is stil jiggly but the tops look done.

Let sit for 2 minutes then run a knife along the edges. Put a small plate upside down on top of the bowl and flip over. If you do it right, you should have a perfect looking upside chocolate cake that oozes chocolate when you crack it open.

Singapore Noodles

I have noodles on my mind ....just about any kind.....konkani style shevai, Chinese style lo-mien, Malay Pad Thai...and have been day dreaming about all the varieties of noodles and this cross-cultural dish came across my mind. I was on a mission for to make all the kinds, one at a time and this came first.
Shevai will be the highlight of this weekend...cant wait to get to that too. Eagerly waiting to borrow the 'danthe' from the Kini's. Go Kini's! whohoo!

My first taste of Singapore noodles was a few years ago and I was floored... and why not....a desi has to love this mildly curry flavoured and Asian inspired noodles. So, here's the recipe I followed and the variation( see the 'note') below.

Ingredients
1 (7-oz.) box rice stick noodles
2 quarts boiling water
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 tbs vegetable oil
1 tbsp minced chopped garlic
1 tbsp minced ginger
2 tbs mild curry powder ( I used kitchen king masala)
2 cups onions
2 cups red bell peppers
2 cups green bell peppers
1 cup carrots
1 cabbage
2 tbsp rice wine
2 cups bean sprouts

Directions:
Cover noodles with boiling water. Let sit for 30 minutes. Drain.
Combine salt, 1 tbsp soy sauce and pepper in a small bowl, add shrimp and toss with the sauce. Marinate for 30 minutes.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok add shrimp and stir-fry for about 3 minutes, or until shrimp are pink. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Heat 2 tbsp of oil in the wok until it begins to smoke. Remove from heat; add garlic, ginger and curry powder to wok and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Return wok to high heat; add onions and stir-fry until limp. Add pepper, red and green, carrots, cabbage and wine. Stir-fry until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes.

Add shrimp, noodles, beansprouts and soy sauce to wok; This is best done in stages: sprinkle-toss-sprinkle-toss. Finish with a light drizzle with sesame oil.
cook until most of the liquid has been absorbed.

Note:
1.You will notice the noodles are not as greasy as the other noodles available in Asian restaurants.
2.I also added chopped jalapenos and pineapple pieces ( added along with the vegetables). This addition is done due to my love for hot and sweetness in my noodles and this is how it's served in my fav Vietnamese restaurant in Canton..."Basil Leaf".

Kaarathe thalasani

Another favourite dish of mine which is a passed down recipe from Mom. Although, I don't get the awesomeness of this dish when I cook it, I try my best to mimic the recipe and ingredients to achieve the lost taste...

The dishes pictured here are karathe thalasani,thendle thalasani, cabbage upkari and dalithoy, rice.
Ingredients
2 medium sized bitter gourd /kaarathe
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 onions,thinly sliced
2 green chilies, finely chopped
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp tamarind paste
Salt to taste

a few curry leaves
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
2 tbsp oil

Method
Cut the bitter gourd into half length wise. Slice along the width of the pieces as thin as you can.

Heat oil in a kadai and season with mustard seeds,, garlic,curry leaves, green chillies, gourd pieces and onions and saute till the bitter gourd and onions softens. Add 1 cup of water. Cover the kadai with the lid and cook this dish is completely cooked and evaporate most of the liquid.

Egg Biryani

Egg is my family's all-time favorite. Although, according to my husband, biryani is not Biryani until it has meat in it...but, everytime I make this, I don't need to endorse my cooking to bring him to the table.....biryani does the trick!

Ingredients
6 eggs

2 large onion
6 green chilies
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp dhaniya jeera powder

coriander leaves and mint leaves, finely chopped
few strands of saffron, soaked in 1/4 cup of warm milk

3 tbsp oil
Salt to taste

Basmati rice 2 cups
water to cook rice 3 cups
ghee 3 tbsp
bay leaves 2
cinnamon 1" pc
elaichi 2
cloves 2
salt

cashew nuts and raisins

Method
. cook eggs for exact 6 mins from boiling point. This ensures that the yolks are cooked but are still bright yellow.
.Cook rice with 3 cups of water,ghee, bay leaf, cinnamon, alaichi, clove and salt. This should cook the rice halfway through which is perfect for biryani.
.In a kadai, heat oil and fry the onions to golden brown, remove half of the onions and reserve for garnishing.In the same kadai, add cashew nuts, raisins,ginger-garlic paste, green chillies and masala powders and saute till the rawness of masala is cooked. Add salt, . Remove half of the mixture and set aside.
. Now layer half of the cooked rice , then layer the reserved masala mixture on top of the rice, chopped cilantro and mint leaves and sliced eggs. Do the same order for the remaining rice and sliced eggs. Garnish the top with the reserved fried onions and pour saffron milk by the spoonful in different corners and cover with aluminium foil and place it in a 300F oven for 25-30 mins.

After the biryani has been layered and set in the oven, it is best if left undisturbed until it is time to be served since the rice and eggs are cooked to perfection and overturning the dish may ruin its effect...take it from a foodie...u cant go wrong here!

tendle thalasani

Every amchigele knows what a thalasani is - garlic seasoned vegetable. My choice of vegetable today is thendle/thindora/thonde kai/gherkin.
Ingredients
2 lb of gherkins, crushed
3-5 red chillies, broken
5-6 cloves of garlic, lightly crushed
3 tbsp cooking oil
Salt to taste

Method
Crush each gherkins which a pestle,
Heat oil in a khadai, add garlic and red chillies
When garlic turns light brown add gherkins and saute. cover with the lid and cook the gherkin in medium heat.Occasionally, keep stirring the gherkin for even browning of the vegetable and add salt and stir-fry till completely cooked.

Rulao Bhakri/ Dhodak

Ingredients
Rava 1 cup
coconut 4 tbsp
Green chilies 4
Water as required
Coriander leaves, few stems,finely chopped
Sugar – 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method
Mix together all of the above and make thin roti's and roast till edges crisps.

Back home, this is first smeared on a plantain leaf and then patted on the pan, which tastes awesome due to the taste of plantain leaf....well. I was too busy relishing this bhakri that I forgot to take pics.

Batata Saung

My Big Bro's authentic amchi signature dish!

3 potatoes, boiled and cubed
3 medium size onion, chopped
6-8 dry red chillies
2 tbsp coconut
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp tamarind paste
mustard seeds
curry leaves
oil

Roast chillies in a little oil, then grind it with coconut,coriander seeds and tamarind into a paste with a little water.

Heat oil in a pan and season with mustard seeds,onion and curry leaves. Saute to soften the onions.

Add ground paste, potato cubes and salt. Cook on low heat till the curry thickens.
It is said to be the best accompaniment with pan polo.