Kokum Kadhi/ Sol Kadhi

I believe I have mentioned in some of my earlier posts that though I grew up in Mumbai, India, our family is basically from Goa. So naturally the food that I grew up eating had a lot of Goan/ Konkani influence. As a kid, however, I didn't quite appreciate the rich coconut based gravies that my mom prepared. But now, sometimes I do miss the authentic Goan dishes from my mom's kitchen especially when I am feeling nostalgic and missing my mom and home.

However, one item that I have always loved even as a kid is the kokum kadhi which is made with coconut milk. I love this kadhi and truly believe any Goan meal is incomplete without a small serving of this kadhi-bhaat (kadhi-rice) at the end of the meal. It not only tastes delicious but also aids in digestion. The 2 key ingredients are fresh coconut and kokum also called as Aamsol in konkani and marathi. Basically, it is a sour fruit, the outer cover of which is dried in the sun to get this aamsol or kokum. My mom made this kadhi pretty much every day. However, these days we have all become very health conscious and have made a rule to make this only on special occasions or with some special dishes such as chicken curry, fried fish etc.

Ingredients -
1 cup fresh grated coconut
2 cloves garlic
1-2 green chillies
5-6 kokum pieces
2 cups water
salt to taste
1 tbsp chopped cilantro

Method -
1. Blend the fresh grated coconut, garlic, green chillies along with some water into the blender. Use about a cup of water by adding little at a time making sure the ingredients are blended well.
2. In a bowl, take some kokums and pour few tbsps of hot water over it. This helps the kokum to soften a little and release nice color and tangy flavor.
3. In the same bowl, strain the blended coconut mixture through a strainer.
4. Take the leftover coconut from the strainer and blend it again with another cup of water in the blender. This allows to extract all the flavor from the coconut.
5. Repeat step 3 by straining the mixture again through the strainer.
6. Add salt to the kadhi and garnish with some chopped cilantro.
7. Serve with hot plain rice.

I'm sending this to Denny's Flavors of Goa event.

Indian Cooking Challenge - Punjabi Kadhi Pakoda

I havent participated in the last two ICC challenges bcoz of my sudden trip to India. So I had decided to participate in this month's ICC Challenge no matter what! In fact when Srivalli chose Simran's Punjabi Kadhi Pakoda for September challenge, I browsed through the recipe and thought I would make it within a couple of days following her announcement and posting of the recipe. However, life has been very hectic both at home and at work and I havent been cooking a lot these days. I just got done making this delicious kadhi pakoda and I'm posting this just in time. Though, I make buttermilk kadhi very often, my version is more like the Maharashtrian/ Gujarati kadhi where ginger, curry leaves and green chillies are mainly used for flavoring the kadhi. Besides, I have never added any pakodas to the kadhi so that was something I had never tried making before. I just tasted the kadhi and it tasted awesome. However we will be having it for lunch tomorrow.

I made a few changes to the original recipe. I replaced the yogurt with buttermilk, added some finely chopped fenugreek/ methi leaves to the onion pakodas and reduced the amounts of certain ingredients called out in the original recipe.

Ingredients -

For Pakodas -

1/2 cup besan / chickpea Flour

1 medium onion sliced

1/4 cup finely chopped fenugreek/ methi leaves

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp red chilli powder Water

Oil for deep frying

For Kadhi -

11/2 cups buttermilk

21/2 cups water

1/4 cup besan/ chickpea flour

3/4 tsp mustard seeds

3/4 tsp cumin seeds

3/4 tsp ajwain/ carom Seeds

3/4 tsp methi / fenugreek seeds

1 large onion finely chopped

1 pinch turmeric powder

Red Chili powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp amchur/ dried mango powder

Method -

1. Slice onions lenghtwise. Take the chickpea flour, salt, red chill powder and chopped fenugreek/ methi leaves in a bowl. Add some water to it to make a batter of a semi thick consistency.

2. Heat some oil in a pan/ kadhai for deep frying. When it is hot, dip onions in the batter and gently drop into the hot oil. Deep fry until crispy.

3. Drain and keep aside.

4. For the kadhi, take some buttermilk in a bowl and add enough water to it. Now add chickpea flour, salt, sugar, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and mix well to make a very thin batter.

5. Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan. When the oil in hot, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, carom seeds and methi/ fenugreek seeds. Let them splutter for a few seconds.

6. Add the finely chopped onions and fry till they turn light brown.

7. Pour in the buttermilk batter and bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer for at least half an hour. Keep stirring occasionally.

8. When you feel it is pretty thick, add the reserved pakodas and bring to boil. Add garam masala and amchur powder to the gravy just before taking it off the stove.

Microwave Doodhi Methi Sambar

This is my first attempt at cooking a complete dish in the microwave from start to finish. In the past, I have only used my microwave to warm up food or boil a potato in a jiffy. It is the splatter and clean up nightmares that have really scared me away from trying to cook anything in the microwave. So I have always avoided participating in microwave cooking events that I see on the blogosphere until now. However, last few weeks I have seen several of my blogger friends successfully cook dal in the microwave and that gave me some courage to give this a try.

It was my understanding that it is relatively quicker to cook anything in the microwave vs on a regular stove. So last week when I needed some sambar to go along with my masala dosas, I decided to try quickly making some sambar in the microwave. It took me about 30- 40 mins to cook the sambar in the microwave…about the same time as one would need to cook the dal in the pressure cooker and complete making the sambar on the stove top. Maybe toor dal takes a little longer to cook than some other lentils that might give a faster turn-around time in the microwave. Regardless, the sambar turned out really good and we loved the doodhi and methi combination very much. I'm actually quite thrilled that I was able to successfully overcome my fear of microwave cooking and pleasantly happy with the outcome!

Ingredients -

1/4 cup toor dal
1/2 cup chopped bottle gourd/ Doodhi
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped fenugreek / methi leaves
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
2 tbsps oil
1/4 tsp asafoetida/ hing
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
4-5 curry leaves
1 chopped green chilli
3-4 tiny dried red chillies (1 large dried red chilli pieces)
1 tbsp sambar masala powder
Salt to taste
2 tbsps tamarind pulp/ to taste
2 tbsps jaggery

Method -
1. Wash the toor dal and soak in hot water for about ½ hour. Drain the dal, add bottle gourd pieces and 2 cups of water to the dal and microwave for about 15 mins in a microwave safe bowl. Use a relatively large bowl so the dal doesn’t boil and overflow.
2. Add chopped tomato pieces and microwave for another 10 mins. Check to see if the dal is cooked. If not, add some water and cook the dal for few more minutes/ until cooked.
3. In another bowl, heat oil for 1 min in the microwave. Add mustard seeds and microwave for 1 min. Then add cumin seeds, curry leaves, green chillies, dried red chillies and turmeric and microwave for another minute.
4. Add fenugreek leaves and cilantro to the oil and microwave for another minute.
5. Add this to the cooked dal and also add salt, tamarind pulp, jaggery and sambar masala powder and mix well. Microwave for 2-3 minutes and serve hot with dosas or rice.

This goes to 'MEC- Delicious Dals' event hosted by Kamalika for the month of June and originally started by Srivalli.

Chincheche Saar - Tamarind Saar/ Soup

I use tamarind as a souring agent in quite a few traditional Maharashtrian and Konkani dishes. However, there are few dishes I know where tamarind is used as the main ingredient. The one I make frequently is the kajur imli chutney (dates & tamarind chutney) which I use in chaats and also as an accompaniment with various snack items like samosas, cutlets, bhajjias etc. Occasionally, I also make this Tamarind Saar/ Soup called 'Chincheche Saar' in marathi which I learnt from my mom. Basically fresh tamarind (preferably use the brown colored whole tamarind and not the canned pulp) is diluted in some water, sweetened with jaggery and seasoned with a flavorful tadka. This sweet, sour and spicy saar served with some moong dal khichdi and crunchy papads or bhajias makes an awesome meal.

Ingredients -
1/2 cup brown tamarind
1 tsp red chilli powder
5-6 tbsp jaggery (May need more if the tamarind used is very sour)
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 dried red chillies
8- 10 curry leaves
1/4 tsp asafoetida/ hing
2-3 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
salt to taste

Method -
1. Soak the tamarind in some hot water for half hour. Add 4 cups of water to this and mix it well to make tamarind juice.
2. In a vessel, heat some oil and add mustard seeds.
3. When the mustard seeds splutter, add the cumin seeds and asafoetida/ hing.
4. Add curry leaves and dried red chillies and fry for sometime.
5. Now add the tamarind juice, jaggery, salt and red chilli powder and mix well.
6. Let the saar simmer and boil for 8- 10 mins.
7. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

This goes to Think Spice- Tamarind event hosted by PJ for the month of May and started by Sunita.

Solun Harbaryachi Masala Amti - Sprouted Lentil Spiced Curry

Last weekend, D was craving some traditional coconut based amti ('Amti' is any dal preparation that can be served over rice) and requested that I prepare one of his childhood favorite 'Solun Harbaryachi Masala Amti' translated as 'Sprouted Lentil Spiced Curry'. I inherited some of these authentic family recipes from my MIL and always make one of these curries when D craves this food that he grew up eating. Although I did not have much liking for such coconut based masala amtis, over the last few years I have developed a taste for them and now I actually enjoy the flavors of such foods.

Basically, this is a coastal maharashtrian dish with sprouted and deskinned black chana (small chickpeas with brownish black skin) and hence requires some planning. The generous amount of cashewnuts and spicy coconut masala makes this spicy and tangy amti very delicious. This is typically served on white rice with a side of a vegetable and some fried papadums or fritters which are a perfect complement and make it a truly complete meal. However, it also goes very well with bhakris, so I made some rice flour bhakris to go along with the amti. A spoonful or two of desi ghee over this spicy amti makes this meal a delectable palate pleaser!

Ingredients -
2 cups kala chana
1 medium onion chopped
1 tbsp broken cashewnut pieces
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala/ goda masala
2 tsp tamarind paste/ to taste
1 tbsp grated jaggery/ to taste
¼ tsp asafetida/ hing
½ tsp mustard seeds
3-4 tbsp coconut masala paste (masalyache khobre)
1 tbsp oil
Salt to taste

Method -
1. Soak the kala chana in warm water overnight. Drain the water and transfer the chana to a clean muslin cloth. Cover them with the cloth loosely and keep the cloth moist. The chana will sprout within a day or two. Now soak the sprouted chana in warm water and de- skin them. 
2. Cook the deskinned chana with chopped onions, cashewnuts and some water in the pressure cooker.
3. Heat oil in a pan/ kadai. Add some mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds splutter, add the hing.
4. Now add the cooked kala channa, red chilli powder, garam/ goda masala and cook for sometime.
5. Add salt, tamarind paste and jaggery and mix together.
6. Add the coconut masala to this and let the sal simmer for 5-10 min.
7. Serve with rice, bhakri or chapatti.

This goes to Suma's 'Delicious Dals from India' event and Susan's 'My Legume Love Affair (MLLA)' event.

Goan Dal - Toi

Though I was born and brought up in Maharashtra, my family is basically from Goa. So the food that I grew up eating had both Maharashtrian and Goan influence. With Goa being on the western coast of India, fish is available in abundance in this region and coconut based fish curries served with rice is the staple diet. However, on certain days of the week, people refrain from non- vegetarian food for religious reasons. On such days fish curry is substituted with Dal.
Every region in India has atlleast few simple dal recipes that are cooked very often. One such simple Goan dal is 'Toi'. I cook it atleast once every week and it goes very well with any dish. It's super simple to make and requires only some basic ingredients from your pantry. The ginger, curry leaves, dried red chillies and asafoetida gives this dal a nice heavenly aroma. We use a special type of hing called 'Shankar Chaap Hing' which makes this simple dal taste divine. However, any hing variety can be used. Though we love this version with dried red chillies, it also tastes very good with green chillies.

Ingredients -
1/2 cup toor/ tovar dal
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp hing
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
4- 5 dried red chillies
8-10 curry leaves
1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
1/2 tbsp oil
1/2 tbsp ghee/ clarified butter
3-4 tbsp cilantro
Salt to taste

Method -
1. Soak the toor dal in water for about an hour and cook it in the pressure cooker.
2. In a kadai, heat some oil and ghee and add mustard seeds.
3. When the mustard seeds splutter, add cumin seeds, dried red chillies, curry leaves, finely chopped ginger, turmeric powder and hing.
4. Now add the cooked dal, salt and some water and mix well.
5. Cook the dal for sometime and garnish with chopped cilantro.

This is my entry for Suma's 'Delicious Dals from India' event.