StepWise - Sabudana/ Sago Khichadi With My Granny’s Kokam-Dalchini Aamti / Dry Mangosteen- Cinnamon Soup| Fasting Recipe | Gluten Free

Hi All!!

The festive and the fasting days have begun, so let me start by saying ‘ A Happy Navaratri’ to all my readers. I have  explained the significance of the Navaratra and Dussehra previously here and have posted a few fasting recipes earlier, which to my delight many of you have tried, liked and appreciated.

Since the ‘Navaratri’ have begun and many people are fasting, I thought of sharing a fasting food recipe. I was amazed at myself that I had never managed to post the most commonly eaten fasting food till date here…I gently admonished myself and steered the foodie in me to cook & post it right away.

Sabudana/ Sago khichadi is loved by all my family members and I cook it quite frequently in my kitchen. As a matter of fact, I stay quite away from fasting and my family does not need any special occasion or a reason to savour this preparation.

As a child I would always prefer sabudana over mordhan/ sama rice during any fasting meal for a simple reason that the sabudana was served with the kokam-dalchini aamti and mordhan with yogurt/dahyatli amti. I would demand my mom to make the kokam-dalchini aamti for me whenever she made sabudana. I loved the combination of the fairly plain khichadi with the spicy- tangy aamti to the core and I was pleasantly surprised when my both the kids also loved it  and started demanding that I should make the aamti if I’m making the sabudana.

The kokam-dalchini amti or the Mangosteen-Cinnamon soup is a recipe that I learnt from my mother, which she had learnt from her mother, who was fondly called ‘Akka’ by all of us. It is a recipe that has come to us from my Granny’s mom’s side, passed through generations. I do not want to sound pushy but still I can’t resist myself saying, please do try it, I highly recommend this aamti/ soup to all my readers as the combination is unusual and absolutely worth a try..

Sabudana Khichadi &Kokam- Dalchini Aamti

Soaking Time: 4-5hrs | Preparation Time:15mins | Cooking Time:30mins | Serves: 4-5| Difficulty Level: Moderate

Ingredients

For Khichadi
3-1/2cups dry sago
8-10green chilies l(spicy)
250gms roasted peanut
3 small potatoes, finely sliced or boiled & cubed
1tsp sugar
salt to taste
1/2 - 3/4cup refined oil for vegan version or ghee (melted)
For Aamti (non vegan preparation)
a large fistful of roasted peanuts
1/4”piece ginger (optional)
a few strands of coriander leaves with stem
1tsp roasted cumin
1/4cup-1/2cup kokam agal or 5-6 kokam soaked in 1/2 cup warm water
1small green chili
10-12 black pepper corn
3-4 cloves
salt to taste
For tempering
2tsp ghee
1/2tsp cumin

Method for Sabudana Khichadi

Wash the sago 3-4 times with plain water to remove excess starch. Decant all the water completely and keep covered for 4-5hrs. Separate the sago with hands.

Grind the roasted peanuts. Mix it with soaked sago. Also mix in sugar and salt to taste.
  
Heat oil and splutter the cumin.

Add green chillies and sauté for few seconds, so that the flavour gets infused in the oil.
 
Tip in the sliced potatoes (I do not peel my potatoes) and also add salt to taste. Mix and cook covered.
 
Add the sago mixture and mix thoroughly. Cook covered for 5-8mins or till done.
Mix in some chopped coriander for more flavour.
Serve hot with the aamti.

Method for Aamti

 
Grind the pepper, cloves and cinnamon first. Now add the remaining ingredients other than the kokam juice and salt.
  
To the ground mix add the kokam juice, salt to taste and about 2-3cups water.
 
Bring it to a boil and simmer for 10-12mins.
 
Make the tempering with ghee and cumin seeds and pour on the aamti.
Serve hot.


Sending both the recipes to my event ‘ONLY’ Traditional Recipes Guest hosted by Jiya's Delicacy.

Tips

1. While making sabudana khichadi get hold of good quality sago else the khichadi can turn gooey.
2. Sago is very starchy so do ensure that the excess starch is washed off thoroughly and all the water is drained off too after rinsing.
3. Another way of soaking sago which I normally follow and was taught to me by my Grand Mom’s sis is as follows…Rinse the sago thoroughly 3-4 times. Pour water in it such that it has water filled up completely soaking the sago. Keep it half an hour and not more. After that place a big plate on the container containing sago and invert the container and remove all the excess water. Leave the container inverted for 4-5hrs.
More Falahari/ Fasting Recipes
1. Sweet Potato Patty
2. Akka Panji’s Thalipeeth For Fasting
3. Batyatacha Kees
4. Watermelon Rind Thalipeeth For Fasting
5. Authentic Maharashtrian Style Sabudana Vada
6. Raw Banana & Tapioca Pearls Patty

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Kanda-Kairi Kochkayi | Instant Pickle | Maharashtrian Cuisine

 

Hi all!

Last few days have been torturous for me, I had severe sinusitis and to add to it,  I was facing dry eyes problem too. Normal vision was getting affected plus there was an unbearable eye pain and head ache. Light was a no no..so with great difficulty I had posted both the event round ups as I could not bear the glare of the laptop screen too…

The problem still persists and it will take some time to get rectified so thought of posting a quick recipe which is just apt for this mango season and will not make me sit in front of the screen for a long time. I know it’s kind of painful to sit in front of the screen but sitting idle is not my cup of tea.. so decided to type for short durations in a day and whenever the post will get completed, will post it. No deadlines to follow currently..

A few days back, I had posted on my face book fan page that I’m into a raw mango mania..I’ve been trying to make the best use of it to fulfill all my fancies and marvels of this fruit! I love the sourness of the raw mango and love to use it in creating new recipes and traditional ones but traditional ones do dominate in my kitchen. I made the Maavinkayi Chutney, the Chitranna in bulk to suffice me for a long duration. These two come very handy in case of quick fixes, just cook rice and use them.. plus I also made a water based pickle using the baby raw mangoes which hopefully I will post soon, as I’ve still have not clicked the pictures and the pickle is disappearing fast..but one recipe which is very close to my heart passed on to me by my mother and Mavshi, which they had learnt from their mother (my Granny)  and frequents our kitchens through the summer is the Kanda Kairi Kochkayi! Kanda means onion, kairi means raw mango, so it’s an instant pickle using the two ingredients which stays for a few days when refrigerated but normally that does not happen as it finishes fast.

It’s a hassle free recipe which is ready in few minutes but simply great to taste. Even if there’s no curry, I would eat my roti/chapati with this and be happy. It is neither a side dish nor a salad, it falls in a category in between them..

Preparation Time:10mins

Cooking Time:5mins

Serves:4

Difficulty Level: Easy

 

Ingredients

1raw mango, finely chopped (medium sized)

onion, finely chopped (small one)

4-5tbsp oil

1-1/2tsp mustard seeds

1/2tsp asafetida powdered/ heeng (good quality)

1/2 - 3/4tsp turmeric powder

2 - 3tsp red chili powder

salt to taste

1/2tsp fenugreek seeds, fried and crushed (optional)

1tbsp jaggery (optional)

Method

Mix the raw mango and onion.

Heat oil and splutter the mustard seeds. Remove from flame and cool slightly and then add asafetida, turmeric, red chili powder and crushed fenugreek.

Pour the tempering on the mango-onion mix.

Add salt to taste, jaggery and mix thoroughly.

Serve.

 

Tips:

Salt is added more because of the sourness of raw mango, adjust based on the sourness.

Adding good quality asafetida takes the preparation to a new level, so please keep that in mind.

Red chili powder should be added after the tempering cools a bit else it gets burnt.

Jaggery is optional but gives a slight sweet tangy taste to the preparation.

Oil should nicely coat the pickle and this prevents it from getting spoilt.

The original recipe doesn’t ask for fenugreek, that’s my addition to the recipe.

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Street Food Of Indore- Bhutte Ka Kees/ Bhutyacha Kees, Step Wise

I’ve made it very evident several times earlier, my profound love for the vibrant and lovely city of Indore and the variety of food available there. Having lived there for several years, I know most of the local food and have tasted that too… especially the street food! As students, me and my friends would hog in the streets of Sarafa and since my family was also a foodie the hogging continued with them too..

I’ve posted the famous Indori Kanda Poha earlier in my blog and in the same post I’ve given food details about Indore too. Indore is the business capital of Madhya Pradesh and the majority of people living in this city are Maharashtrians as the Indore was ruled by the Holkars. Apart from the dominance of the Maharashtrians the other regions whose prominence is seen in the city are Marwaris, Sindhi, Punjabi, Bohri and Jains. All these regions contribute to the food culture of Indore.

One such food item which is popularly made by the Marwaris as well as the Maharashtrians is the Bhutte ka Kees and is abundantly available is the streets of Indore especially in the season of corn. It is served warm with a garnish of coconut and coriander and lemon squeezed over it. This preparation can be called as an Upma using freshly ground corn except that it is not as wet as Upma. The strong flavor of heeng makes it a very inviting dish. This preparation is quite filling and makes an ideal evening snack..

I had made this preparation ages back and was not extremely sure about it, so just to confirm the procedure I made phone calls to my Mom and my Mavshi, and after confirmation, I proceeded!!

This preparation makes use of coarsely ground or grated corn, so either one can grate the corn else if you have a corn peeler, remove the corn from the cob and then grind coarsely. The process after that is small and not tough either but just needs a little patience..

INDORI BHUTTE KA KEES

Preparation Time:15mins

Cooking Time:15mins

Serves:2

Ingredients

3sweet corn or regular tender corn grated or the con removed from cob

1-2green chilies

2-3tbsp coriander stems

an inch piece ginger

1tsp cumin seeds

salt to taste

2-1/2tbsp oil

1tsp mustard seeds

a large pinch heeng/asafetida

1/4tsp turmeric pwd

a pinch of sugar (optional)

For garnishing

lemon wedge

chopped coriander

grated coconut

Method

Grind together coarsely the corn, ginger, cumin and green chilies.

Heat oil and splutter mustard seeds. Reduce the flame and add heeng and turmeric pwd.

Immediately add the coarsely ground corn and mix. Add salt to taste and if using regular corn add the sugar. Avoid sugar is using sweet corn.

Cook covered for 5-8mins. Mix again and cook open for some time till all the excess moisture evaporates and the kees starts drying and the grains separating from each other. If your kees appears moist and the grains clogging with each other, let the kees cool down and then separate the grains using your fingers and then serve.

Before serving squeeze some lemon juice and garnish with coriander and freshly grated coconut.

Sending it to my event ‘Only’ Street Foods of The World hosted by Archana of Mad Scientist’s Kitchen

Tips:

Use a non stick or a heavy base utensil as corn sticks easily at the base. Avoid scathing as it spoils the taste as well as the texture of the dish.
Add heeng of good quality as it adds great flavor and also helps in digesting the corn too.

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Sweet Potato Patty/Cutlet, For Fasting Days/ Ratalyache Cutlet..Navaratri Special

Hi all!

It is just another week to go for the festive days of Navaratri to begin. Navaratri literally means ‘nine days’; it starts immediately after the full moon of Mahalaya i.e. the 17th October. The idea behind Navratri is the time for cleansing our own evil characteristics like hatred, jealousy, ignorance, anger, greed, violence, etc. inside and outside of us. In the West India, the divine feminine is referred to as Goddess, but in the East, she is referred to as Shakti, or Power and hence celebrated as Durga Puja. She is your own consciousness as well as the Supreme Consciousness.The Nine Nights/Moon Phases of the Goddess is an important time period wherein the energy of 3 primary Shaktis of the Divine Feminine, the Supreme Goddess, is invoked.

In North India, Maharashtra and Gujarat, people observe a seven day fast during Navratri and break their fast on Ashtami (the eighth day of the festival) by worshiping young girls. However, some people observe fast until the Ashtami and break their fast only on Navami (the ninth day).The devotees, who have observed fast, would get up early in the morning, take bath and offer prayers to the deity. People follow a specific diet for Navratri, if they haven't observed a nirahar (waterless) fast. Most people nowadays perform partial fasting. They would abstain from non-vegetarian food, alcohol and those dishes that are made of common salt or any kind of spice. Singhare ka atta (kuttu ka atta) is used to prepare rotis or puris, for the fast. (ref festivals.iloveindia.com)
One may drink beverages like tea, coffee and milk, on Navratri. Dishes made of sago and potato is generally consumed by the people, when they observe fast on Navratri. Sendha namak (rock salt) is used instead of common salt, for cooking on the festival. All fruits and foodstuff made of fruits are eaten during the seven days.

I have posted most of the recipes that are  commonly made during the fasting days like the Batatyache Kees, Sabudana Vada, earlier.To increase the variety of food that can be eaten during fasting, recently I posted a very new kind of thalipeeth/Indian Pancake using watermelon rind. Today I’m posting yet another different recipe for fasting using an ingredient which is normally used for making sweet dishes.

I was skeptical during the preparatory stage but once the mix was ready and tasted, all tensions were thrown outside the window. I knew instantly it is going to be a hit dish.. There was no sweetness from the sweet potatoes, the flavors were perfectly balanced!!

Preparation Time :30mins

Cooking Time: 3-4mins per batch

Makes:14-15

Serves:3-4

Ingredients

5medium sized sweet potatoes
2-3green chilies (check on the spice level, mine were spicy)
3tbsp chopped coriander
1/2cup soaked mini sago/mini sabudana
1tsp grated ginger
1tsp cumin seeds
sendha namak to taste(salt for fasting days)
1to1-1/2tsp lemon juice
3-4tbsp roasted and ground peanuts
sago flour/ sabudana peeth, for dusting
oil/ghee for pan roasting

Method

Boil the sweet potatoes in water. Once cooked peel off the skin and grate.

To the sweet potatoes add all the remaining ingredients and mix properly.

Make small balls and then pat them to make patty.

Coat the patty on all sides with sago flour.

Pan roast the patty on medium flame using a little ghee or vegetable oil on both the side till nicely golden in color. I used ghee for roasting.

Serve with green chutney.

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Watermelon Rind Thalipeeth..a treat for fasting days

Hi.

In a traditional Maharashtrian family fasting is quite regular. fasting on Ekadashi, Chaturthi is quite common, apart from that some people do fast on Tuesdays/Mangalwar or Thursdays/Guruwar or any one day of the week. On such days they stick to fasting food i.e no grains are eaten and only satvik food is eaten like sabudana, bhagar, potatoes, sweet potatoes. Even salt used is not the common salt but sendha namak is used. In these months, many people fast for Shravan Somvaar  i.e. the Mondays of Monsoon and a few few fast on Fridays too.

Today’s recipe is for people who are fasting. During fasting the food can get very monotonous and one needs a change. This thalipeeth is definitely a change from the regular sabudana, variche tandool/mordhan, sabudana vada, batatyache kees etc. It needs very basic ingredients which are normally present in the kitchen during the fasting days. Moreover, it makes use of the part of the fruit which is normally discarded.

I have already mentioned in my post of Watermelon Rind’s Jhunka, the benefits of the rind, it’s flavor. This is yet another post which makes good use of the rind in a very tasty and healthy way. This is an effort from my side to make best out of usually considered a waste. If you have more suggestions on how to make best out waste, do pass it on to me. I’m all ears..

This preparation is not only useful during fasting days, it is a great lunch box item and can also be served for breakfast  as it is quite filling.

Watermelon Rind’s Thalipeeth

Preparation Time:20mins

Cooking Time:5mins per thalipeeth

Serves:3

Makes:7-8

 

Ingredients

1cup watermelon rind (grated)

1tsp cumin

3-4 green chilies, finely chopped

2tbsp curds

2-3tbsp coriander stems, finely chopped

1/2cup coarsely ground peanuts

3/4 cup rajgeera atta/ Amaranthus flour

3tbsp- sago flour

1/4cup Singhada atta/ water chestnut flour

1/4cup samo rice atta/ mordhan flour

salt to taste

oil/ghee for cooking

Method

Take the rind in a mixing bowl add cumin, green chilies and coriander stems.

Add salt to taste. Adding salt in the beginning, helps release water from the rind and which can be later used for binding the flours.

Add the peanuts.

Add all the flours and curds, mix to form a dough. If required add a little water for binding.

Smear oil or ghee on a non stick pan or griddle. Take a plum size dough and using wet fingers, pat it into 6-7inch disc of 1/4th inch thickness. This patting is to be done on a cold pan and not a hot pan unless you are very comfortable with hot pans. The other method to make this is to pat the thalipeeth on moist cloth or greased polythene sheet and then transfer it over the pan. I personally use very less oil for roasting (about 1tsp) but one is free to use more.

Once transferred, puncture it at three four places in the center and spread more oil/ghee. Roast it over a medium flame till you get roasting spots on either side. Preferably cover it while roasting, this fastens the process of cooking.

Serve it hot with a lemon pickle for fasting or green chutney without garlic-ginger and curds.

 

Also, reposting two of my old recipes which were made in the Royal Kitchen of Nizams, Dum Arvi and Hyderabadi Baghare Baingan for my event ‘Only’ Recipes From The Royal Kitchens, guest hosted by Divya.

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