Gulamba

Happy to return to blogging after a while. Today I am posting my ultimate favorite seasonal preparation preserved from generation to generation, Gulamba i.e raw mango jam. Its tangy and sweet taste is treat to taste buds. It is served side to main dish like pickle and can be served with hot chapati/puri/paratha.

Ingredients:

• Raw mango 2 cups peeled and grated. 
• Jaggery 2/3 cups grated as per the sweetness desired.
• cardamom powder.

Preparation:

1. Peel the raw mango and grate it. Squeeze the grated mango slightly to remove some juice out of it, to reduce the sourness.
2. Grate the jaggery.
3. Mix them together and keep aside for 2 hours so that jaggery and mango gets mixed well.
4. Now add cardamom powder and keep the mixture on low/medium flame till mixture gets thicken.(it gets a silky texture and thick consistency). Stir in between to not stick to bottom of pan.
5. Let it cool down completely and store it in glass jar. It can be refrigerated for 4-5 months.

Kadakani - Dasara Special

Kadakani is made on the occasion of Dasara/ Vijayadashami in Maharashtra.

Ingredients : 

• 1/2 cup semolina.
• Powdered sugar - 1 cup
• All purpose flour - 2 cup
• Oil to fry kadakani
• Salt to taste.

Kadakani

Procedure : 
1. Soak semolina in some water for 20 minutes and then grind it in mixer.
2. Add powdered sugar to it and mix well till sugar melts.
3. Mix in all purpose flour to it. Add salt. Add some hot oil so that they will become crunchy.
4. Now make a dough out of this mixture. Make sure it is not too soft, or Kadakani will dissolve in oil while frying. Keep this dough covered and set aside for at least 3 hours.
5. Heat oil in wok/Kadhai. 
6. Make small balls of dough. Roll the balls with rolling pin to the size of poori making it as thin as possible. (use plastic sheet to avoid dough sticking to the board) and fry them one by one in oil.
7. Keep them aside for 15 minutes and then you are good to eat the festive special sweets.

Sabudana/Tapioca Khichadi (साबुदाण्याची खिचडी)

This is again an authentic Maharashtrian snack usually prepared on the day of fast.

                                     साबुदाण्याची खिचडी / Sabudana Khichadi

Ingredients:
1. Sabudana : 1 cup
2. Roasted peanut powder(Coarsely Grind) : 4-5 Tsp
3. Cumin Seeds : 1 Tsp
4. Green Chili - 4 to 5
5. Cilantro/Coriander 
6. Lemon Juice (optional) : 2 Tsp
7. Sugar : 1 Tsp
8. Salt to taste.
9. Ghee
10. Curry Leaves : 4 to 5


Procedure:
1. First, Soak Sabudana in water for 30 minutes, then drain all the water out and keep it overnight or for 7-8 hours. Soaking sabudana properly is the crux of this recipe. sprinkle spoonful of water on sabudana and mix it time to time so not to dry out completely.
2. When sabudana is soaked properly, mix it well at the time of preparing khichadi.
3. Now in a skillet, heat some ghee, then add cumin seeds. When they splutter, add green chili, curry leaves, finely chopped coriander leaves.
4. Then add sabudana, roasted peanut powder, salt, sugar and lemon juice(optional as per your taste). Keep churning it continuously for 7-8 minutes till sabudana changes its color and texture like shown in picture. (if sabudana left unattended without tossing or kept covered while cooking, it will stick to the pan and turn hard like a rubber.)
5. Remove from the fire and make sure to serve hot!

Varanphal

Chakulya( Varan Phal)
Ingredients:

For Varan:

• 1 cup toor daal
• 1 tsp kala / goda masala (use red chili powder in case)
• 1/2 tsp garlic chopped
• 1 Tsp Tamarind
• 2 tbsp grated jaggery
• 5-6 curry leaves
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 pinches of asafoetida
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 tbsp oil
• salt to taste

For Phal:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tbsp oil
• salt to taste

Method: Soak tamarind and jaggery in 1/4 cup water. For phal dough mix wheat flour with oil and salt and knead firm dough. Keep aside till daal gets ready.

Cook Dal with turmeric powder in pressure cooker till soft. Mash it and mix with soaked ingredients. Now heat kadhai with oil and add mustard seeds and asafoetida. Now add curry leaves, dry coconut, garlic and masala (do not let it burn). Immediately add daal in it. Add salt and water and bring it to boil, simmer. This varan should be thinner than regular daal.
Now at the same time start rolling small portion of dough like chapati but little thicker than that. With the help of knife cut the chapati into diamond shapes ( like shankarpale), crosswise. Put these shapes in boiling daal. Repeat the same procedure immediately. Let this boil on low flame till the phal completely cooked. Add water if required.
Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot with ghee.

Wheat flour steamed Modak / मोदक

Ingredients

For Cover -  

• Wheat Flour: 1 Cup
• Oil: 2 tsp
• Salt to Taste
• Water

For Stuffing -

• Fresh Grated Coconut: 1 Cup
• Poppy seeds (Khas-Khas) 
• Grated Jaggery: half Cup OR little more than half cup depending on the sweetness of jaggery (Adjust as per your taste)
• Cardamom / Elaichi Powder: ½ tsp
• Ghee: 2 tsp

Procedure

• Mix salt and small amount of oil in a wheat flour very well. Then add some water and knead the dough. The dough should not be too soft. It should be just like Puri dough. Then add remaining oil and knead the dough. Cover this dough with clean pot or wet cotton cloth and keep aside for at least half hour.

• For stuffing, heat ghee in kadhai.  Then add coconut, poppy seeds and jaggery. Cook this mixture on a low flame till the jaggery melts and the mixture comes together. DO NOT heat for extra time as the coconut starts burning and will become hard. (If this happens, pour some milk to bring the softness). Then add cardamom powder and mix well.
• Make small balls of dough. Apply some oil on a rolling board and roll these balls in small puries . These puries should not be too thick and too thin. or to get it faster, roll the dough into big chapati and cut it into small rounds with the sharp edge bowl pressing on chapati.
• Place small amount of stuffing in the middle of puri. Merge all the sides of puri to make in the shape of a fresh fig. Prepare all modaks. 
• Meanwhile boil water in a steamer or big pot.
• Take a colander; apply some ghee or oil to it. Place all modaks on plate or colander and keep this colander on steamer. Cover with lead. Cook these modaks for 15 – 20 minutes. 

Maharashtrian Kadhi ( कढी)

 Ingredients :

1. Gram flour (besan) :2 tablespoons
2. Yogurt 3 cups
3. Ginger 1 inch piece
4. Garlic 3-4 cloves
5. Green chillies 2, chopped
6. Curry leaves 4-6
7. Salt to taste
8. Turmeric powder 1 teaspoon
9. Oil 1 tablespoon
10. Mustard seeds 1/2 teaspoon
11. sugar to taste

  

Preparation :

• Prepare Ginger garlic paste.
• Mix gram flour and yogurt thoroughly. Make sure to avoid lumps of gram flour. Add two cups of water, salt to taste and turmeric powder.
• Stir continuously on medium heat.
• Heat oil in another pan, add mustard seeds, when they crackle add ginger-garlic paste, green chillies and curry leaves.
• Cook for a minute and then add to kadhi. Stir continuously on low heat until kadhi is slightly thick. add sugar.
• Remove from fire, adjust salt/sugar and serve hot.

Misal-Pav (मिसळ पाव)

Misal-Pav

Ingredients for Usal

3 cups sprouted - Mataki, Moong, Masoor (any one or two or all)
3 medium size Boiled Potatoes (peeled & cut into cubes)
1 tbsp red chili powder or as per taste.
1 tsp sugar
Salt as per taste
1 tsp chinch/tamarind pulp
3-4 tbsp oil For Tadka- rai, hing, haldi 

Grind to powder -
1tsp Jeera, 2 tsp coriander seeds /dhane, 2 cloves/lavang, 2-3black peppercorn, ¼ inch cinnamon/dalchini piece

Grind to paste -

½ cup chopped onion, 4 garlic cloves, ½ inch ginger piece, 10-15 pudina/mint leaves, ½ or 3/4 cup grated coconut

Other Ingredients for Misal

2 cups Chivada/pharsan

2 cups Shev
1 cup chopped tomato
1 cup finely chopped onion
½ cup chopped fresh green coriander
1 cup dahi/curd/ plain yogurt (optional)
Slices of bread or Pav

Sprouted Pulses

Method for the Usal

1) Heat oil in a pan or kadai, add mustard seeds, when it starts to crackle add hing, Turmeric.
2) Add ground paste and saute till the oil starts loosing out of the masala, then add ground masala powder, red chili powder, tamarind pulp and salt. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
4) Add mashed potatoes and cook them for 3-4 minutes.
5) Add finely chopped tomatoes and again cook for 5 minutes till tomatoes cook well.
6) Now add sprouted pulses, saute them for a while.
5) Add warm/hot water and cook on a low flame for another 10 minutes.

 

To Serve the Misal

1) Place a couple of spoonfuls of Usal in a bowl. Top it with a spoonful of chivada/pharsan/shev. Garnish with 1-2 tsp chopped onion, coriander; fresh curd(optional).
2) Add bread/pav on a side dish.
 And your spicy tasty dazzling misal is ready! :)