Shevechi Bhaji

It's a typical Khandesh recipe. It is very spicy (in Marathi - Zanzanit). Good option for vegetarian who wants to eat a spicy curry. A nice option when you don't have any vegetable at home. WE had it last weekend as both of us was suffering with cold. Elder says that this Shev bhaji is perfect option when you have cold and feel no taste of any food.

Ingredients
Onion - 2

Grated dry coconut - 1/2 cup

Garlic cloves - 6-7 cloves

Ginger - 1 inch

Garam Masala - 1, 1/2 teaspoon (I used special Khandeshi Bonde Masala)

Kanda lasun Masala - 1teaspoon (optional)

Red chili powder - 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Sugar - 1/4 teaspoon

Oil - 1/4 cup

Shev (Gathiya) - 1 cup

Hot water - 3 cups

Salt to taste

Procedure

Slice onion vertically. Heat kadai and pour 1 teaspoon oil in it. Fry onion till get brown. Fry coconut in oil. Now mix fried onion, coconut, garlic, ginger, kanda lasun masala, garam masala (Bonde masala which I have used was given by friend Sonali, she is basically from Bhusaval(Khandesh).) and little water. Make a thin paste in mixer. Now heat remaining oil in kadai. Put sugar in oil, with this oil layer (tavang) will come on curry. Now add the paste and red chili powder in it. Fry till the mixture leaves oil on side of the kadai. Add little hot water and mix wel. When it starts boiling then add little by little. Add salt and mix wel. Cook it for 2 minutes. Add shev in the curry while serving, otherwise it will get soggy. You can use Haldiram's Bhavnagari shev for this. Serve this with Bhakri with sliced onion and lemon slice.

This is for WYF:Specialty food event

Gulab Jamun

Wow It's really fun making Gulab Jamun from scratch. It's my first recipe for Indian cooking Challenge. I tried Gulab Jamun 2-3 times before this. But the khoya was readymade. It was unsuccessful attempts. This time it really went nice and soft. I tried Indo's method for making Khova and Alka's method for Sugar syrup.

Ingredients

For Khova

Milk - 1 liter

For Jamun

Khoya - 1 cup

All purpose flour - 2 teaspoons

Cornflour - 1 teaspoon

Crushed green cardamom - 1-2

Oil for shallow frying

For Sugar Syrup

Sugar- 400 Gms

Cardamom pods - 2-3

milk - One spoon

Few threads of saffron (optional)

2-3 drops of rosewater(optional but highly recommended)

Procedure

For Khova

Start out by setting the milk to boil in a heavy bottomed wide mouthed pan.

Keep stirring as the milk reduces to avoid milk getting burnt - half way stage.

Continue stirring, takes atleast 1 hour - almost done. Stop the heat when the milk solids come together as a mass - khova ready.

For Sugar Syrup

Mix about 500 gms of white sugar in one and half cup water and keep it for boiling.

Add a spoonful of milk to remove the impurities (impurities if any , will form a scum on surface)

Add 2-3 green cardamoms also in syrup for strong flavor, and a tad of saffron strings (optional)

Boil until you get just a tad sticky syrup. Gulabjamun syrup is not very dense nor too dilute as in Rasgulla

Strain the syrup, add rosewater when syrup is slightly cooled . Always remember two things while using rose water, do not add it while syrup is bubbling hot or on fire, and be particular about the quantity mentioned in every recipe, since even few drops of excess rosewater could lend a bitter taste to the final product.

For Jamun

Mix all the ingredients in a wide mixing bowl until soft textured dough is obtained (keep mixing until it is really soft). Make very small sized balls (bit larger than pebbles) as they swell up after frying and soaking in syrup. Make sure that the surface of dough balls is really smooth without any cracks. In case the cracks refuse to go away, slightly wet your palms with water and roll the flour till absolutely smooth. Now take little oil for frying in preferably flat bottomed pan, and heat the oil. But gulab jamuns are to be fried on LOW FLAME or else the surface will be browned while the core will remain uncooked. Some prefer to place an unsalted pistachio in the center of every gulab jamun while making balls, that way the core of gulab jamun is not left uncooked . Fry one or 2 gulab jamuns at a time and always remember to STIR THE OIL with slotted spoon AND NOT TO TOUCH GULABJAMUNS, which means keep swirling the oil without tossing or turning gulab jamun. Fry till light brown in colour, remove on tissue paper and repeat the procedure with rest of dough. Now soak these in COOL syrup for few hours. They will surely swell up. You can eat hot Gulab Jamun as it is or with one scoop of Vanilla Icecream:)

Honey Chilli potatoes

Wishing all o f you a very Happy Children's day!!!!!

On the occasion of Children's day, I prepared this very yummy and children's (And adults too.) favorite recipe honey chilli potatoes. My co-sister, 'Shravani' told me about this dish and I tried this immediately. Everyone liked this. I always make this with cutting potatoes vertically. But today I did this with potato smiles, so that children can enjoy it more. This dish is specially for my niece 'Aadyaa' :)

Ingredients

Potatoes - 250 gm

Honey - 4 tablespoon

Tomato Sauce - 2 tablespoon.

Red Chili Sauce - 2 tablespoon (or as per your taste)

Red Chili Flakes - 1 teaspoon

Chopped Garlic, cloves- 1 tablespoon

Sesame seeds - 1 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Procedure

Wash, peel and cut into thick finger shape (french fries shape). This time I used Potato smiles. Deep fry potatoes on medium flame till it turns to golden brown. In a bowl mix all the ingredients except sesame seeds. Deep all the fried potatoes in this sauce. Stir fry the potatoes with sauce in a fry pan for 2-3 minutes or till potatoes gets little dry. Arrange on a serving plate and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

Tamatar Dhaniye ka shorba

It's raining heavily from last 5-6 days. You can expect rain any time in Bangalore. But this time it was very heavy. The weather is very cool. Both me and my husband was having cough and cold. So soup is a best option in evening time. Some days before we had 'Tamatar Dhaniye ka shorba' in Umerkot restaurant. It was awesome. I tried this on this Sunday eve. Really we felt better … clear throat after having it. It's a tomato soup with lush flavor of fresh coriander leaves and spices.

Ingredients

Chopped Tomatoes - 4 (Medium)

Chopped Onion - 1 (Medium)

Grated Carrot - 1 (Small)

Green chilli - 1-2

Chopped Ginger - 1 teaspoon

Chopped Garlic - 7-8 cloves

Black cardamom (badi elaichi) - 1

Cinnamon (dalchini) - 1" stick

Bay leaves (tej patta) - 1

Black pepper (Kali miri) - 6-7

Besan - 1 tablespoon

Garam masala - 1/2 teaspoon

Chopped Coriander leaves -1/2 cup

Chilli powder - 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder -1/2 teaspoon

Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon

Butter - 1 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Procedure

Heat the butter in a pan on medium heat; add cumin seeds, cardamom, cinnamon stick, and bay leaves; stir. Then add ginger, garlic and saute it . Add turmeric powder. Now add onion and fry till it changes colour to slight brown. Then add carrot and mix it. Now add tomato and saute it till tomatoes cooked neatly. Add besan and mix properly. This is for thickness. Now add all remaining ingredients. Add sufficient water and bring the mixture to the boil. Cover and keep on simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and strain into a separate bowl using a soup strainer. Serve hot with garnishing of coriander leaves.

Dudhi na Muthiya

Like Undiyo, this recipe 'Dudhi na muthiya', also taught by my friend, "Deepa". Muthiya is very healthy and tasty as wel. You will not need any deep frying or extra spices to enhance the taste of it. A steame snack with tadka (Vaghar in Gujrati, if I am not wrong).

Ingredients

Bottle ground (Dudhi) - 500 Gms

Coarsely grinded wheat flour - 2 cups

Bengal gram flour (Besan) - 5 teaspoons

Bajra flour - 5 teaspoons

Green chilli +ginger paste - 2 teaspoons

Powder Sugar - 1 teaspoon

turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon

Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon

Cumin Powder - 1 teaspoon

Chopped Coriander leaves - 2 tablespoons

soda-bi-carbon - 3-4 pinch

Salt to taste

For Tadka

Oil - 2 tablespoon

Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon

Sesame seeds - 1 tablespoon

Asafetida (Hing) - 1/4 teaspoon

Coriander and Grated dry coconut - 1 tablespoon for Garnishing

Procedure

Peel and grate Dudhi. Remove excess water of dudhi. Now add Chilli ginger paste, turmeric powder, salt, powder sugar, Coriander powder, cumin powder, soda-bi-carbon and mix well. Add all the flours. (If coarsely grinded atta is unavailable, add 2 tablespoons of Rava(Semolina) into it) Add 1 teaspoon of oil. Mix neatly. If it is too hard add some water to make it soft. Make rolls of this dough. Grease a plate. Arrange the rolls in the plate, keeping some space in between. Steam the plate in a steamer (Or in Pressure cooker without whistle) for 10-15 minutes.To check if rolls are cooked properly or not - put a knife in the roll if it comes out clean then it is cooked.

For Tadka

Heat Oil in kadai and make tadka from given ingredients.

Pour this tadka on sliced Muthiyas. Mix well and garnish with coriander and grated dry coconut.

Spicy Fiery Chutneys

This post is only for Sreevalli's Spicy Fiery Chutney


Green Tomato Chutney





Oli Halad (Fresh Turmeric) Chutney


Mavinkai Chutney

Chutney Pudi

Shengdana (Peanut) Chutney

Coconut Chutney

Onion Chutney