Usal Pav - A Match Made in Heaven

Usal pav is a traditional Maharashtrian breakfast/ snack dish, a legume based gravy served with pav. Although simple and straightforward recipe, it is very popular as yet another street food along with misal pav, so don't miss any opportunity to eat it when you are in Maharashtra. This was the best food I could think of eating from the canteen in my break before I head to the library after college hours study time. Back home amma used to make this concoction from different beans and legumes but the favourite of mine till date has been Mataki/Moth bean. She would go easy on spices, flavor it with goda masala and add little jaggery which I used to relish with garam garam phulkas. 

I have always followed amma's recipe to prepare this dish, but this time when I ran out of stock with ready to use goda masala [I usually get it from Mumbai] I decided to try the recipe from Koushi Bhatia's book "Favourite dishes of India". This recipe uses freshly ground masala paste to make it, an alternative option instead of ready to use masala powders. The preparation took a little more time as it involved frying and grinding the ingredients, but the final dish was fingerlickingly good. If you want it really hot and spicy you may add more chillies.



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The Day I Dream To Go To Space ~ Food Creation

Back from office when I entered the house, 'As' [my elder one] came running to me and began to recite a poem. I waited till he reached the last line and then was like, "ok another new poem for poetry recitation?"  He came with a pat reply "Amma, this is my poem" ... I was like @@@@ ! Speechless ...   ? His 8th birthday is few months away and how could he write a poem. But then being a voracious reader and one who easily gets absorbed in space science books, I had to believe him. He has always been captivated by space science, astronomy and never gets tired of talking about it. With increasing interest he has always imagined himself  "Fly me to the moon, let me swing among those stars" and now one of his dreams is to become an astronaut [U can see it in the drawing pic below]

I asked him to note it down immediately on a piece of paper and read those lines describing wonderful imagination of his mind [Had to guide him with sequencing of few words]. I felt so proud of him, I mean even at this age I won't be able to express myself in poetic form. Below is the poem for all of you to read [improvised with minimal help].


After I read his poem, I remembered a food creation of mine which I would like to post today. So no recipe here :). The creation is a DOSA served in an unique way based on space theme. I used normal dosa batter, carrot slices, tomato slices, sliced olives, capsicum, purple radish, pretzels, sprinkles, to prepare this "Dosa from space". 



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Chanya Dali Polo/Chana Dal Dosa - Version 1

The need to send variety tiffin snacks in school lunch boxes makes me go hunting for variety recipes. It kind of stresses me sometimes but then I take it as an opportunity to learn more recipes. I have been trying out recipes for different dosa these days and today sharing the recipe of a variety dosa, Chanya dali Polo. This dosa is prepared from dals~ chana dal and urad dal only. It doesn't have rice in it so those who have diet restrictions or intentionally want to reduce their rice intake, this recipe is perfect and it can go on your list of meal options. Recipe below has been adapted from my cookbook based on Konkani cuisine authored by Sandhya Pai.  




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Adsara Undi/Oondi

The recipe for adsara undi has been inspired from one of my fav blog for konkani recipes and that's Konkani Khann Anik Jevan. Undis/Oondis are favourite at my place and I have always followed the only recipe passed to me by my mom/aunt which I have blogged here. Since the time I read yet another recipe by Usha akka on KKAJ, which used plain cumin seeds to flavor rice coconut mixture, I was keen on trying it. While wanting to prepare this dish for kids tiffin I decided to add grated carrot as well as coriander leaves and make this snack nutritious as well as colorful for kids. 




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Pudina Chaas ~ Summer Coolers

Buttermilk is an excellent digestive as well as a body cooler drink. I just crave to have this drink while driving back home through the scorching heat, sweating through the hot sunny afternoon. And upon reaching home many a times it's just gulping down a glass full of this drink [diluted with water and some salt added to it] even before taking my lunchFinding a bottle of this drink at home and to grab it at any time of the day instead of aerated drinks is indeed a blessing. 



This cool and revitalizing drink can also be flavoured with spices such as cumin powder, ginger, and herbs as mint leaves, coriander leaves, etc that makes it super tasty and the perfect appetizer. I love all the variations and pudina chaas is my favourite. Since it's  summer time making this chaas would be better and simpler way to treat yourself ! 


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Kanda Batata Pohay/Pohe

Pohay, the marathi way!


Pohay or pohe is a dish prepared in Marathi household from flattened rice usually for breakfast or as a snack accompanied by a warm cup of tea. This is the most likely dish served when families of the boy and girl meet during arranged marriages. Infact this dish is so common during such meet that sometimes the program itself is referred colloquially as "Kanda - pohyacha karyekram". Batata pohe is another variation of this traditional dish where boiled potatoes are added to the preparation. Kanda batata pohay is nothing but using onions and potatoes to make this tasty comforting snack.

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Bhapa Doi Cheesecake - Guest Post 4

Days pass by so quickly, same thing applies to week. As soon as they begin they end especially the weekends ~ there is never enough time to do all things that needs to be done. First quarter of 2014 already gone and month of April soon touching its mid-mark point.  Phew! Every time I think and try to manage my time efficiently, I end up wishing for more hours in a day... does that happen to you ? While checking my to do list for the coming week, I suddenly realized its 2nd Monday of the month and I need to post the 4th session in my guest post series. 

So friends, today I would like to introduce my friend Jayashri Baleri on Flavors and Colors. I met Jay on FB food group. Initial interactions were just related to our recipe posts. Her posts have been inspiring with interesting recipes always and classy presentations that will never fail to tantalize your tastebuds. Many times I have tried her recipes like for Besan Laddoos and Badam Burfis and have been successful with the results. After about 6 mnths time, we became friends, started exchanging messages and in no time our wavelength matched. Now we are close friends as if we have known for years interacting on topics other than recipes. Though our paths crossed on a virtual platform, I am glad to have found a wonderful, loving person like her and hope to meet her in person in near future. 

Jay is popular on our food group as a dessert queen, who amazes and tempts all of us everytime with her perfect desserts posts! So when I asked her to be my guest she happily agreed. I was super duper excited to see the recipe of Bhapa doi cheesecake being shared by her. I know you want me to stop here as I can imagine your excitement to read through her recipe and drool over those tempting pics.




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Vegetable Fried Rice

This is a famous Chinese recipe of cooked rice tossed with lot of vegetables. Who can say no to this rice? An easy and fast recipe, there are countless variations to prepare it. I usually follow this noodles recipe for fried rice too, replace boiled noodles with cooked rice. This time I tried tweaking TD's recipe from her book "Tiffin Treat for Kids". I have used purple cabbage instead of regular one and sprinkled some garlic powder in addition to white pepper powder. Some may find the taste of purple cabbage a bit bitter, but believe me there is no difference in the taste and the purple color in the dish is surely an attractive one amidst green and orange. 



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Pudina Palak Ki Kadhi

Mint leaves add a nice refreshing flavor to any drink or salads. During summers, I add them in chaas, juices, soups or as garnish for salads and was thinking how it would taste if I add them to yogurt based kadhis. So this time when I lay my hands on fresh mint leaves, I added handful of them to below palak kadhi recipe. It surely took this kadhi to another level and tasted super with fresh and aromatic flavor. Read below to find out how I prepared it from palak and pudina. 




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Rice With Juicy Soya Nuggets, Burnt Garlic and Veggies

A favourite recipe of mine with fascinating fusion of flavors coming from juicy soya nuggets and burnt garlic! When JD from Jayanta's Home Kitchen posted his recipe for "Juciy soya nuggets with burnt garlic", I tried it the same day during lunch time [Any recipe with garlic and I cannot hold back myself, moreover his recipe looked so simple, had to try it that day itself]

The enticing aroma wafting through my kitchen fired up my hunger pangs and I ate to my heart's content, which meant nothing was left for my hubby :P. This rice is not only delicious but also healthy and quick. After my first attempt, I adapted his recipe by adding extra veggies and an extra dose of burnt garlic for that awesome flavor. Prepared it twice after that and both times my family enjoyed it. Below is the recipe that I adapted from JD's recipe.




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Posu/ Kharvas/ Ginnu

Happy Ramnavami to all of you!

Posu, a special steamed pudding is a famous amchi delicacy prepared from thick milk of cow which we call as 'cheeka doodh' [meaning lactating cow's colostrum]. The pudding is known as Kharvas in Marathi, Ginnu in Kannada and Junnu in Telugu. An easily prepared dish either with sugar or jaggery, it was done at home in old days mostly when people owned cows/buffalos to meet the dairy needs of their joint family. This practice was commonly seen in native places or rural areas. The colostrum milk would make its appearance once in a while, few times in a year when the cow gave birth. First, the calves were taken care of with their feeds and the excess milk then used to prepare this delicacy. This milk is yellowish in color and very thick on first day. Gradually over next few days the consistency thins down

In cities, with trend of nuclear families and small apartments the tendency was to prefer dairy outlets in order to meet their daily demands of milk, yogurt, ghee, etc. [which is more practical than keeping a cow as pet ;)]. This all meant, to depend on the milkman who would arrive at doorsteps to sell the colostrum milk after the cow delivered a calf in his cow barn. Gradually, the number of cow barns reduced and this dish became a rare treat at home as well as my native place during my childhood days itself. I feel lucky at least to have tasted it. Chilled or hot both tastes yummy. 

After reaching Kuwait, I used to wonder if any dairy farm existed in this place as the general inclination was to buy fresh milk cans or tetra packs marketed by dairy companies/ dairy farms mostly from Saudi region. Now that I have read about existence of farms here, this special milk may be available but I never made an attempt to check for it. Thus, it's like ages we didn't have it and kids never tasted this fresh colostrum milk pudding.



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Julekake - Norwegian Christmas Bread

I came across Baking Eggless Group on Gayathri's blog, where a group of enthusiastic bloggers lead by Gayathri try out new eggless recipes experimenting with egg substitutes in their own way and according to their experiences. Being a vegetarian I am always in search of eggless recipes. When I read about this challenge, the idea to come out of our comfort zones, experiment on original recipes, find an egg substitute and convert it into an eggless recipe was exciting and this really tempted me to join in. Morever, I was eager to know and read about co-bloggers successful attempts using different egg substitutes for a particular recipe. This year the challenge is focused on baking eggless breads. I immediately contacted and informed her about my interest to join this group. The challenge for the month of March was selected by Priya Srinivasan of Enveetu and it was a Norwegian Christmas Bread "JULEKAKE". Online information hinted me this to be a very popular flavourful bread served as breakfast during Christmas time, a bread richer and more sweet than Christmas bread.

Julekake or Julekage [pronounced as yoo-ley-key-yeh] is loaded with raisins and candied citrons. Gayatri mentioned on the group wall that we can use candied peels of orange or lime instead of citron. I could not locate any of these peels nor could prepare them at home due to shortage of time. I added tutti fruit pieces to the dough in my first attempt. Somehow was not satisfied with my results, probably the flour quantity used was too much as compared to wet ingredients. With a note to myself and pointers of where I must have gone wrong, I decided to prepare it for 2nd time after my return from Abudabhi.  Meanwhile, browsed online to find if anybody had tried making this bread without these candied peels which is when I came across two recipes - one here suggesting to use dried cranberries and other recipe here that used orange zest. I planned to go ahead with these ingredients [due to their easy availability] as substitutions for candied citron. [If you find the candied peels you can add 1/4 cup instead of these two ingredients]. The original recipe asked for eggs but I used flax seed powder instead and it turned out great this time. The wonderful scent of cardamom could not be missed as the aroma of baking filled my house.




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Corn Capsicum Carrot Subzi - Dry Side Dish

Back to blogging after busy days with school break followed by a short wonderful trip to Abudabhi. Missed this space and hope you all too missed me! We came back a week before and the schools were to reopen next day itself. This time with younger one's entry to kindergarten section, we were excited but he seemed to be bit anxious. We had to spend more time talking to him about his school, teachers, singing nursery rhymes, watching educational videos, etc. with an attempt to make him feel comfortable about the new chapter in his life. We took him for shopping school items such as bag, tiffin box, water bottle, stationary, etc and repeated the same exercise as we had done with our elder one .. involving them while selecting their items. The process helped them to connect with school phase and it took 2-3 days time for him to get adjusted. Back home after his return, we found him excited talking about day's event in his school and busy reciting rhymes. Glad to see that he has embarked on this academic journey with excitement and confidence. 

Though I was relieved after seeing him getting adjusted so soon ... there was something which was bothering me still and what was that? Packing another tiffin box for school .... My elder one always had a request to send foods that are not much of a mess, easier to eat which will give him some time to play. I am sure there must be similar requests from most of the school going kids out there which force us to plan for recess snack ideas that's not just tasty, healthy, more appealing but quick and convenient for them to eat in their school environment. In the first week, I packed some dry snacks, finger foods, fruit pieces and a juice packet in their boxes. Both of them returned back with emtpy boxes. In the coming weeks, I have few healthy snack ideas such as parathas, rava idlis, dosas, chappati subzi that are approved by elder one and hope younger one too relish it. If any new recipe, I usually experiment it before packing it to school. This way I am assured that they would empty the boxes and there is no food wastage. My kids love corn so when I came across corn subzi recipe in my notes, I decided to try it at home before sending it to school. I adapted the original recipe by adding capsi, carrots to make it colourful and more nutritious, and altered the quantity of spice powders to make it less spicy. Was happy to see plates polished off by both of them and a healthy recipe getting added to my tiffin ideas. If you too are in search of recipes for tiffin box do try the below recipe.



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