Soya Chunks Song/Saung

By    6:02 PM // 2 comments
Song/ Saung is an authentic dish from Konkani cuisine. It is one super spicy and tangy dish which goes very well with rice, dosa, idli and even chappatis. I usually opt for less spicy levels so that kids too eat it . I prepare this dish from either of these ingredients - potatoes, mushrooms, cauliflower, green peas and few beans like navy beans, soya bean, etc. 

 Soya/ Meal maker which is known to be a healthy means of increasing the protein intake is also known to readily absorb the flavors of any dish that we cook them in. Recently I have been using soya chunks in different recipes substituting it for the main ingredients. It is during one of these times the below recipe happened. Glad that I attempted it and this was a healthy twist to amchi recipe which tasted very nice with chappatis.




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Raw Banana Curry With Cashew Paste

By    12:27 AM // No comments
I never used raw banana other than traditional amchi dishes. So when I came across it's recipe which used cashew paste, it was something new to me. The rich creamy curry with its inviting looks, and I had to attempt it. The recipe was shared by our FB friend on a food group [Thanks VNS for doing so]. After tasting the dish, a thought crossed my mind and it was raw bananas can surely be a healthy option instead of paneer in paneer based dishes. The best way to know the deliciousness filled in this curry is to try yourself and let me know how you find it. 



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Pineapple Paneer Pulao

By    10:07 PM // 2 comments
Have you ever tried making pulao that tastes bit sweeter than any other pulao? Yes, that's the Kashmiri Pulao with lots of fruits and dry fruits which makes this dish very unique. Fruits such as apple chunks, pineapple chunks, grapes, pomegranate, etc and dry fruits such as cashews, raisins, almonds can be added while making it. Kashmiri pulao goes well with paneer based gravies or simple raitas. Infact this is a satisfying meal in itself without any accompaniment too. Its an easy and quick recipe, which surely will be a hit menu at any potluck, party or picnics. 




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Amrud Ki Subzi

By    12:00 PM // 1 comment
Last week one of our friend "P" who was back from India vacation, dropped in at our place. As we welcomed him, a bag was handed over to me. I knew he had got some traditional goodies, sweets and savories from India :) [he has been doing this always after his India visit]. But this time there was something more special, a unique fruity fragrance coming from the bag. Without opening the bag I could guess and I was correct. I was excited to see GUAVAS. It's sight and smell brought back childhood memories and tickled my tastebuds . I used to eat them plain or sprinkled with salt and red chilli powder just like raw mangoes and cucumbers. 

Guavas are one of the rare fruits available in supermarkets over here and whenever available most of the times overripened, so we go without buying them which is why kids never got to taste them before. I picked one from the bag, cleaned and chopped it, sprinkled some salt and served to my kids so that they could taste it. The first bite and few more forcible bites after which both of them said "NO". May be matter of taste or they didn't like the seeds inside. Removed the seeds and tried offering them but they turned their heads away. 

 We [me and hubby] very much enjoyed eating them. As I was wondering what I could do more with this fruit so that kids too can enjoy eating it, I remembered Amrud Ki Subzi. Few years back had watched Chef Sanjeev Kapoor on his show preparing this subzi and then had read a similar recipe in one of the magazine. The name itself was so attractive that I tried to recollect both recipes and adapt it based on the availability of ingredients at home. We enjoyed this subzi with parathas [except my younger one who still refused to eat even those deseeded fruit pieces from the gravy !]




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Panpolo

By    9:07 PM // 4 comments
"Panpolo" is a popular breakfast item in Konkani household. "Polo" is konkani word for dosa and "Pan" describes these dosas to be thin as leaf made from watery batter. These dosas are thin, snowy white color, soft and lacy texture. Kannadigas and Tuluvers too prepare this dosa, called as "Neerdosa" where they grind the batter without any coconut which makes it crispier as compared to panpolos. 




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Adraki Aloo Palak

By    2:16 PM // No comments
Today I am posting one of my favourite dish, Aloo Palak.  This is yet another traditional Punjabi delicacy filled with flavors and packed with nutrition. There are different ways to prepare it. I usually follow the same recipe of Palak Paneer, where I substitute paneer cubes with boiled potato cubes. But when I came across the recipe of aloo palak here, I liked that extra unique adraki flavor given to the dish. With generous amounts of ginger infusing its flavor into this dish, it was a perfect accompaniment to rotis especially at the time when the weather was chilly outside.


Recipe adapted from "Annapurna" by Mangala Barve 


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Chocolate Mousse (Without Egg and Gelatin)

By    11:51 PM // 6 comments
Universally, Children's day is celebrated on 20th November to create awareness and encourage the welfare of children in order to ensure a better future. However this date varies in India and it is preponed to 14th November which coincides with the birthday of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, to commemorate his great love for children. Pandit Nehru emphasized on welfare of the children and worked towards it. He was fond of children and thus became popular as Chacha Nehru [Uncle Nehru] among them. Kids are eager and look forward to celebrate this day with lot of fun activities and party organized in their schools. 

 At home, I thought to prepare something sweet that they love which means something with chocolate. Since long time, I have been thinking of preparing a mousse. Mousse is a French dessert prepared with different techniques. I opted to prepare it without eggs and gelatin and narrowed down to its recipe from Rak's Kitchen. 


Recipe source: Adapted from Rak's Kitchen


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Raw Mango Kadhi / Kairichi Kadhi

By    10:51 AM // 3 comments
Today, its drizzling a little which means winter's here. Yes, during the transition from summer season to winter it drizzles at my place. With the temperatures dropping down, I was longing for some warm saar/ kadhi/soup kind of drink just to slurp on. This is what I prepared, a tangy kadhi from raw mango. 


Recipe adapted from book "Annapurna" by Mangala Barve

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Celebrating 1st Blog Anniversary :)

By    3:01 PM // 6 comments
Its 12th November ... Yes dear readers, celebrations at Flavor and Colors ! It was exactly 12 months back I clicked the "Publish" tab for the first blogpost and today this space is one year old. Not sure of how and what exactly I was going to do, I just commenced on this journey carrying a hope to experiment with my clicks, cook more recipes, gain knowledge about how blogging works, and mostly to know and interact with new friends who share the same passion. Can't believe how fast time has flown by, but it surely has shaped Flavors and Colors to the present form. 

 It has been an amazing year getting to know so many talented, creative friends and foodie bloggers all around. Looking back, I feel proud to see the successful culinary experiments from my kitchen [more dishes were cooked and baked last year than ever before]. Learning about the developer's tools hidden in the browser to manipulate the look of the blog [a bit of CSS, html coding] was something which I wouldn't have dared if I was not blogging. Those tons of food clicks and offline articles on photography [my laptop hard drive is burdened with food photos and its shouting for a cleanup :P] helped me to explore my DSLR settings and at the same time understand food on the plate from an aesthetic perspective. 

So, I am here to celebrate this special occasion and share the recipe of laddoo, a popular Indian sweet. Usually laddoos are made with sugar syrup but this recipe uses condensed milk. Thus, it is an easier and faster way when compared to regular sugar syrup method of preparing laddoos.



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Tandlachi Ukad

By    12:40 AM // No comments
There's an age old axiom "Breakfast is known to be an important meal". Yes, it is, especially for growing children to get them started for the day. 

 With my elder one, A 's exam scheduled early morning on weekend, I had less time in the morning to cook anything and that's when I remembered "Tandlachi Ukad". Immediately, I headed towards my kitchen to prepare the dish and get "A" fueled up before his exam. 




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Sprouted Moong Ghashi

By    4:16 PM // 2 comments
The recipe that I am posting today involves process of sprouting. I have always seen amma saying and practicing to consume sprouted dhanya [beans/ pulses] and this is because they are known to be very nutritious and helps in digestion too. We call the process of sprouting as "Kirloche" and the sprouted bean as "Kirlaile dhanya" in konkani.

I was less lucky with this task in those initial days of cooking, firstly, I never observed the proper technique when amma used to do it. Secondly, the climate here [extreme summers and extreme winters] didnt't give me the sprouts as expected and overall due to repeated failures I assumed the process to be tough and hence the bean used to sit back in the pantry for days together. But when amma visited me during my first delivery, I carefully observed her way to grow the sprouts. Refer the notes section below the post to know how to sprout any bean**. Since then I have been following her method to sprout them and have never failed in doing so. The easiest and fastest to sprout amongst all beans/dhanya is the green gram or moong bean. We can prepare salad, upkaris/stir-fry, usli and randeyi/curry from sprouted moong. 

 Mooga Ghashi [using moong bean] is a konkani festive dish [as it contains no onion garlic] and favourite of most of the amchis. This dish which is a coconut based gravy can be prepared in combination with yam / raw jackfruit / tender bamboo shoots / potato. 


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Pista Katli/ Pista Fudge

By    2:58 PM // No comments
After 3-4 attempts with use of liquid glucose for burfi making, I decided to prepare pista burfi as one of the sweets during Diwali. This time I followed the recipe from Maayeka, a blog for wonderful vegetarian recipes by Anjanaji, and this recipe was without using liquid glucose. I am a big fan of her blog, love the way she presents her dishes and photography.

Recipe source: Maayeka, I just increased the quantity of ingredients


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Benne Chakkuli/ Butter Murukku

By    4:07 PM // 1 comment
A savoury snack and that is Butter Chakkuli - a traditional snack prepared from main ingredients such as rice flour, phutane daal [roasted gram / hurikadle] and butter [Loni/Benne is preferred for that taste].

Recipe source adapted from Ravikala Shenoy, FB friend


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Happy Deepawali !!!

By    5:11 PM // No comments
And here comes the festival of light, Diwali ! Hope you are having great time meeting relatives, friends and relishing Diwali goodies :)

After my intitial experiments with Kaju Katli and Balushahi [ you don't see them in this pic becz they got finished before Diwali :)], I managed to do Pista Burfi, Butter Chakli, Shankarpali/ Shakkarpara, Two tone Coconut Burfi, Churmundo [wheat flour laddoos], Ragi Omapodi, and Rawa Coconut laddoos.


Diet ko maro goli its HAPPY DIWALI !
On this auspicious day wishing all of you good health, happiness,success and prosperity.

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Stuffed Brinjal - Maharashtrian Style

By    12:31 AM // No comments
I had posted Brinjal Sagle, an amchi way of making stuffed brinjal. Today I post yet another version, Maharashtrian style of preparing them. [Posting this recipe which was lying in my drafts since many days now]  The below recipe is adapted from a marathi cookery show, Sugran which gets telecasted on Saam TV.




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