Suralichi Wadi

Suralichi Vadi aka khandvi is like state of origin rugby in Australia. Instead of NSW fighting against QLD where the footy was originated, the Maharashtrians fight against the Gujarati's about the origin of this dish. Making the dough is the most tricky part of this dish. Once you perfect the dough, it should be a cruise afterwords. At the end this one is worth all the efforts.

Preparation time: 5 mins

Cooking time: 15 mins

Dough Ingredients:

1 cup besan/gram flour

300 ml butter milk

1 teaspoon of turmeric

salt

Mix the butter milk, besan and turmeric in a pan and heat it while stirring. Avoid forming clots and break the clots if you see them. Add some salt and constantly stir the dough until it becomes thick.

Test the consistency of the dough by spreading a small amount on a steel or glass plate. Let it cool down and using your finger try rolling it up in a roll. If it rolls up easily that means it is done but if it is sticky, cook it further until it starts rolling. Do this test as many times as you want until the dough is cooked.

Once the dough is cooked then divide it in three equal parts and spread it on the steel or glass plate using a flat bottom cup. Spread it evenly on the plates and set it aside to cool.

Stuffing Ingredients:

1 cup freshly grated coconut

1 cup chopped coriander

2 green chillies

1 teaspoon of sugar

1/2 juice of lemon

Meanwhile, in a blender dry blend the coconut, coriander, green chillies, salt and sugar. Squeeze half a lemon into the mixture and mix well. Divide this mixture in three equal parts and spread it on the plates.

Tadaka/Tempering Ingredients:

1 teaspoon of mustard seeds

3 tablespoon cooking oil

1 teaspoon hing/asafoetida

In a small pan heat the oil and add the mustard seeds and hing. Once the mustard seeds start popping turn the heat off and set aside to cool. Spread this cooled tadka on the plates.

Using a knife slice the dough on the plates about inch apart to make them bit size. Start rolling them up one by one. Make sure you roll them tightly while keeping the stuffing of coconut and coriander within the rolls and careful not to break them.

Enjoy this with a hot cup of tea as an evening snack.

Fruit Relish

The inspiration for this recipe comes from a friend of ours in Canberra. My wife had dinner at their place and had the fruit relish and enquired about the recipe. I have made a few changes however the gist of the recipe is the same.

Ingredients:

½ kilo persimmons

1 cup brown sugar

3 medium size tomatoes deseeded and chopped

3 dried red chilles

1 tablespoon panchporan

1 tablespoon roasted and grounds panchporan

2 tablspoon of oil

salt

Panchporan (Five spice mix):

Equal blend of-

nigella

cumin seeds

fenugreek seeds

mustard seeds

fennel seeds

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 40 mins

Heat oil in a pan and add the panchporan. Once the mustard starts popping add the dried chillies. Saute for ½ minute.

Add the persimmons and saute for a minutes and add the tomatoes. Saute for another 2 minutes and add the brown sugar and salt. You can easily replace persimmons with apples or pears and make this relish.

Cover it and cook it for 30 minutes and set aside to cool. Once cooled add the roasted and ground panchporan.

You can store the relish in a air tight container for about 2 months. It can be served with a bread platter or ploughman’s lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pav Bhaji (Vdo)

 

Pav bhaji is one of the most famous and popular street food especially in western India. Pav Bhaji takes me back to my college days. The late night studies and riding a motorcycle at midnight to the bus station to eat pav bhaji and fresh fruit juice. It was very easy to make with whatever veggies we had at the hostel and cheap enough to fit in my student budget. Pav bhaji is one of those dishes that always taste better the next day. The reason being there are several spices that go in the pav bhaji masala and it probably takes them that long to infuse all the flavorsin the pav bhaji. Don't worry you don't have to prepare the masala at home as it is readily available at the Indian grocery stores.

Pav bhaji is also possibly the best way to get kids to eat their vegetables. You can pack a pav bhaji sandwich in the lunch box or as an afternoon snack. The pav bhaji masala has red chilli powder in it so if you are cooking it for your kids use 2 tablespoon instead of 3 that way there is no room for complaint about it being spicy.

Ingredients:

3 medium potatoes boiled, peeled and chopped.

1 red capsicum diced

¼ cup of cauliflower

1 carrot diced

1 cup of green peas

1 large onion finely chopped

1 medium tomato chopped

200 gms of butter

3 tablespoon of pav bhaji masala

ginger garlic paste

pav or bread rolls

salt to taste

 

Preparation time: 30 mins

Cooking time: 10 mins

 

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Combine the red capsicum, carrot, cauliflower and green peas in a pot filled with water. (You can additionally use green beans, corn or any other vegetable of your choice. Just make sure you add some potatoes since they bind the bhaji together.. )

Parboil the vegetables until they are just cooked. Once the vegetables are cooked, drain the water and save it as vegetable stock for later.

Coarsely blend the boiled potatoes and other boiled vegetables in a blender. (If not, you can finely mash all these vegetables)

Heat 100 gms of butter in a pan and add the ginger garlic paste. Saute the paste for 30 seconds and add the onion to the pan. Saute the onion until it becomes translucent. Add the tomatoes to the pan and cook them for 3-4 minutes or until they are completely cooked.

Add the pav bhaji masala to the pan and roast it for about 30 seconds. Return the vegetables to the pan and give it a thorough mix. Add additional 50 gms of butter to the pan and salt to taste.

Add some drained vegetable stock to adjust the consistency.

The bhaji is now ready and now you need to prepare the pav or bread roll. Slice the bread roll in half and apply some butter to the bread. Sprinkle some pav bhaji masala on the roll and toast the bread on a pan until golden brown on both sides.

Enjoy your pav-bhaji.

How do you make yours? Write back and let me know. Visit my blog for more recipes and tips to cook delicious Indian food, quickly and easily.

Panna Cotta with Slow Roasted Pears

If you are after a easy dessert but have plenty of time in hand to make one then this one fits the profile perfectly. The panna cotta is mouth watering and the slow roasted pears are out of this world. You will pay in excess of $20 per serve for this at a fancy restaurant, but at a fraction of the cost you can make at least 6 of them at home. Your guests will love this fancy dish and only you will know the secret that this is not as hard as it looks. This is the first time I attempted the panna cotta and it was a massive success. I learnt the basis of panna cotta from giallo zafferano So give it a try and let me know.

Ingredients:

For panna cotta

400 ml thick cream

½ cup of water

3 cinnamon quills

½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon

½ cup of caster sugar

15 gms of gelatine powder or 2 gelatine leaves

For slow roasted pears

4 pears

6 sage leaves

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup water

Preparation time: 1.5 hrs

Cooking time: 4 hrs

Combine the cream, cinnamon quills and caster sugar in a pan over medium heat. Bring to simmer stirring constantly. Turn off the heat and leave it to infuse for 1 hour.

Dissolve the gelatine powder in water. Return the cream to medium heat and add the dissolved gelatine to the cream while stirring the cream. Strain the mixture through a muzzle cloth and pour in to six ramekins and leave it set for at least 4 hours in the fridge.

In the meantime preheat the oven at 160 Deg C.. Peal, core and slice the pears in half and place them in oven proof dish. Combine the brown sugar, water and sage leave on a medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Pour this over the pears and roast in the oven for 2.5 hrs or until the pears are tender.

Run a knife around the edge of the ramekin and invert panna cotta in a serving dish. Place the pear on the serving dish and drizzle the syrup over the panna cotta and around the dish.

Baingan Bharta | Vangyache Bharit | Roasted Eggplant Mash

<!-- p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Times New Roman} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Times New Roman; min-height: 18.0px} span.s1 {font: 12.0px Arial} span.s2 {font: 16.0px Times New Roman; text-decoration: underline ; color: #000982} -->Baingan bharta, vangyache bharit or stir fried eggplant recipes are plenty on the internet. Each recipe has its own style and a special ingredient that makes it different from the other. One ingredient is common amongst all and that is garam masala.

I won't be using garam masala in this baigan bharta. Instead I will use pav bhaji masala (something I picked up from my mom-in-law). At this point I could explain what pav bhaji masala is but I will leave it for another video. Pav bhaji masala is a fairly popular masala and should be easy to find at your local Indian store. If you want to prepare your own, try this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 medium size eggplant

1 onion chopped

1 tomato diced

2 tablspoon of pav bhaji masala

2 green chillies

3 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 teaspoon of mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon of asafoetida

½ teaspoon of turmeric

2 tablespoon of oil

salt to taste

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 10 mins

The first step is to prepare the eggplant. Then brush the eggplant with some oil and then poke it with a fork. Make deep incisions, so that the oil can seep inside. The eggplant needs to be roasted and de-skinned. The roasting can be done 2 ways. You can either use a conventional oven and roast it for 20 mins on 180 Deg C or roast it on the stove.

I like the taste of the chargrilled eggplant.

Insert a barbecue skewer in the eggplant and on medium heat roast it until the skin shrinks and the eggplant cooks. Roast it on a low-medium flame and not high. If  you try this on high flame your eggplant will cook from the outside, but not the inside.

Once cooked, remove from the flame and let it rest.

After the eggplant is sufficiently cooled down de-skin using bare hands or a knife. Mash the eggplant but leave some small sized chunks and set aside.

Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add the asafoetida and turmeric. Add the green chillies and garlic to the oil.

Add the chopped onion and saute until translucent. Add the tomatoes and saute for further 2 minutes. Add the pav bhaji masala, mix well and let it cook for 20-30 seconds.

Return the mashed eggplant to the pan and add the salt. Cook it for about 2 minutes and serve with hot Indian rotis.

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Makai Methi (Fenugreek Leaves and Corn Stir Fry)

Fenugreek or methi is traditionally used as a herb however in many Indian recipes it is used as the main ingredient to cook stir fry vegetables or curries. You can buy this in a fresh food market in Indian subcontinent however in Australia as far as I know it is available in frozen form and can be purchased from most Indian grocers.

I never liked veggies when I was a child, especially Methi...I remember having to eat at many Indian weddings. Today, it's a different story and much as I hate to admit it, I actually savour the flavour.

Ingredients:

1 can of corn kernel

1 onion finely chopped

2 sliced green chillies

2 teaspoon of ginger garlic paste

2 tablespoon of kitchen king masala

1 teaspoon of kasuri methi

1 tomato diced

1 bunch of fenugreek (methi) leaves

1 teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon red chilli powder

½ teaspoon turmeric

1 tablespoon of oil

½ cup of thick cream

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 15 mins

Wash the fresh fenugreek leaves and pluck the leaves. Finely chop the leaves and set aside. If using frozen leaves then either thaw the leaves or defrost them. Once defrosted squeeze the water out until the leaves are dry and loose.

Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin (jeera), turmeric and green chillies. Add the ginger garlic paste and the onion to the pan next and saute until the onion is translucent. Add the tomatoes and saute for 2 mins.

Add the kitchen king masala, red chilli powder and crushed kasuri methi. Add the corn and saute for about 2 mins. Add the fenugreek leaves and cook for about 3-5 minutes.

Add some salt to your taste and add the thicken cream and let it cook for about 2 mins. Serve with hot Indian roti.