Kothimbir Vadi

Kothimbir Vadi – A delicious Maharashtrian snack. Basic recipe from BBC  Goodfod Magazine India, page no 54, October, 2013 !!

Makes: 9 vadis

Serves: 3 - 4

Method

Combine 1 cup gram flour (besan / kadala maav / chone pitti, Indian standard measuring cup of 200 ml / 8 oz capacity), ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, 1 teaspoon coriander powder, 2 chopped green chillies, 1 tablespoon tamarind pulp, 2 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves, 20 chopped cashew nuts (optional) and ½ teaspoon salt together in a bowl. 

Add 1 ½ cups water to make a thick batter. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in  a pan on medium heat and cook the batter, stirring continuously, until dough  like consistency. 

Remove from heat. Spread this mixture in a greased tray. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon oil on the top and spread it evenly with the help of a flat spatula. Set aside to cool for half an hour and then cut into 2 – inch squares.

Final preparation:

Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a flat frying on medium heat. Fry these vadi until crisp on both the sides. Serve with green chutney or tomato ketchup.

Bun Maska

Bun Maska – A delicious combo with tea. Bun maska is popular @ Irani Restaurants in Mumbai.

How to prepare Bun Maska?

Cut bun into desired shape and size and apply butter (@normal temperature) generously on bun slices.  Serve with hot tea.

The Essential Marathi Cookbook by Kaumudi Marathe

The Essential Marathi Cookbook by Kaumudi Marathe - A very useful cookery book in Maharashtrian cuisine. Over 250 recipes (but no photographs) that capture the flavours of Maharashtra. Available @ Flipkart online store (lowest price of Rs216) and other online stores.

Ghavan (Rice flour polos / dosas / pancakes in Maharashtrian / Konkanastha Brahmin cuisine)

Ghavan (Rice flour – butter milk polos / dosas / pancakes in Maharashtrian / Konkanastha Brahmin cuisine). Basic recipe from BBC Goodfood  India magazine, October, 2013 !!

Ghavan is a rice flour crepe that’s eaten in every Konkanastha Brahmin  home as a snack or for breakfast. It makes use of basic store cupboard ingredients. Once you’ve got the recipe right, the possibilities of flavouring them as endless. Eat them hot off the pan with a dollop of ghee.

Makes: 6 – 7

Ingredients

1 cup / 200 ml / 8 oz (Indian standard measuring cup) rice flour (orva pitti / ari podi)

¾ to 1 cup butter milk

2 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves

1 green chilli, finely chopped

2 tablespoon finely chopped onion (optional)

½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

2 - 3 teaspoon oil

Method

In bowl, mix all the ingredients (except oil) and whisk until smooth. Batter should be slightly thinner than normal dosa batter. No need to keep this batter for fermentation. Once can prepare instantly or after 1 – 2 hours.

Heat a dosa pan / griddle on high heat. Reduce the heat to medium. Smear little oil over the surface of the pan while it heats.

Pour a ladleful of batter and spread it evenly (2 – 3 circular rotations). Cover with a lid for 30 seconds or until top portion done.

When the ghavan turns slightly brown on underside, flip it and allow to cook for a minute. Gently remove with a flat spatula. Repeat this process for remaining ghavan batter. Serve  hot with pickle / chutneys / any vegetable dishes …

Butter Murukku / Chakali (2nd recipe)

Butter Murukku / Chakali  (2^nd recipe) - A very popular deep fried snack in Indian cuisine!!

Makes: 18

Please use same measuring cup to measure rice flour, urad  dal  and water. Ratio of rice flour and urad dal is 3: 1 (Here I used Indian standard measuring cup of 100 ml / 4 oz capacity)

Ingredients

3 cups rice flour (Indian standard measuring cup of 100 ml / 4 oz capacity) Nutriyes brand rice flour available in Chennai.

1  cup urad dal flour (first measure urad dal and then make a powder in a small mixer bowl) Please pick good quality urad dal (without any impurities and  latest manufacturing date)

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon black til (black sesame seeds) or 1 teaspoon jeera (cumin seeds)

1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

½ teaspoon hing (asafoetida / kaayam)

1 ½ cup water

300 ml oil for deep frying

Method

Sieve rice flour and urad dal flour separately. Sieve twice.

In a wide bowl, mix sieved flours, salt, butter, hing and sesame seeds (til) or jeera. Mix well with finger tips until well combined and forms like soft bread crumbs.

First start with 1 cup water and later adjust with extra ¼ cup water and make a medium soft dough (neither  too hard  nor too soft). If it’s too hard, it won’t come out from murukku mould. If it’s too soft, it’ll break  and we won’t get proper shape of the murukku. If the dough is  become hard when making murukku, remove  dough from the murukku mould, sprinkle little water (1 – 2 teaspoon), knead again (until soft) and then return back to murukku mould. First prepare murukku (approximately 17 - 18 nos).

Put this dough in a murukku / chakali mould and press it to chakali shapes ( long strips, or desired shapes and sizes ) on a paper or a clean plastic sheet / aluminum foil.

Heat oil in a wide kadai / frying pan and reduce heat to medium. Do not fry on high heat. Transfer this chakkulis / murukku into the cooking oil  and fry on a medium heat until light golden color and crisp  in 3 batches, please keep a safe distance from the gas stove (5 or 6 murukku at a time, depending upon the size of the kadai / frying pan). Drain out from  oil and place it on kitchen towel to absorb extra oil. Please use 2 – 3 paper towels to absorb extra oil. Serve as snack or with tea / coffee. It’s a popular snack for Vinayaka Chaturthi..

Modak / Kozhukattai

Here's the recipe links of Modak and other details

Modak with Raw Rice Flour Paste

Modak with Rice Flour

Modak using Modak Mould

How to prepare Modak using Modak Mould?

How to prepare modak  using modak mould?

Modak is a sweet dish which originated in the Indian state of Maharashtra and it is considered to be the favorite dish of Lord Ganesha. It is customary to offer twenty one or hundred and eight modaks to Lord Ganesha. You can make fried or steamed modak. Coconut - jaggery mixture is the main sweet ingredient which enhances the taste. One can also add dry fruits. Modak mould  available at steel utensil showroom in India. It's easily available in Chennai (Santhosh Super Store, Anna Nagar, Saravana Stores,T Nagar, Ratna Store,  Pondy Bazaar & Purasaivakom ..). Price Rs 15 - 25 for each modak mould.

Makes: 11- 12

Preparation Time: 30 – 45 minutes

Steaming Time: 15 minutes

For the  Coconut Filling (always make coconut filling first):

Ingredients

 7 - 8 tablespoon grated coconut

7 – 8  tablespoon melted and sieved jaggery

1 teaspoon ghee

1 pinch cardamom powder

1 tablespoons chopped dry fruits (optional)

Method

In a frying pan, heat ghee. Add melted jaggery and fry for 5 minutes on a low heat till fragrant.

Add grated coconut and mix it well. Do not cover with lid. Stir continuously and fry for 10 - 12 minutes on a low heat till the coconut - jaggery mixture dries up. Add cardamom powder and keep aside.  Finally mix with chopped dry fruits (optional).Sweet filling should be dry in consistency without water content.

Microwave method:

In a microwave safe bowl, mix grated coconut and jaggery and microwave high on 750 w for 2 minutes (maximum 3 minutes).Then it will be a thick mixture without water and almost dry in texture. Remove from microwave and finally mix with cardamom powder and chopped dry fruits (optional). Modak filling is ready now.

For the outer covering (with rice flour paste):

Ingredients

1 cup / 200 ml / 8 oz  silky raw rice (ponni rice)

2 cups water

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon oil

Extra 3 teaspoon oil

Method

Wash and soak rice in 2 cups in hot water for 20 minutes. Drain out rice and reserve water. In a mixer bowl, make a smooth of soaked raw rice with ½ cup water (just to cover rice). Transfer this paste into another bowl and mix it with remaining water (in which the rice is soaked), salt and oil. Consistency of the raw rice batter  should be thin in consistency.

Transfer this mixture to a wide non stick pan and cook on a low to medium heat for 12 - 15 minutes or until the mixture thickens / leaves from the sides of the pan / difficult to stir and form a soft ball. At this point switch off the heat. Keep aside to cool for 10 - 12 minutes.  Then knead well with 1 teaspoon oil and make a soft dough without any lumps. This rice flour dough is very soft and it’s very easy to make Maharashtrian style modak and South Indian KozhukkattaI. Cover dough with a clean wet towel. Then it won't be dry and easy to make different shapes too.

2^nd recipe (with rice flour):

Makes: 11 - 12

For the Outer Covering:

Please use same measuring cup to measure rice flour and water (1: 1 ratio, 1 cup rice flour: 1 cup water)

1 cup / 200 ml / 8 oz  Nirapara Appam flour (rice flour) / Nutriyes brand also popular in Chennai or any very good quality rice flour. It is very difficult to prepare outer covering with normal rice flour. Always there is a confusion with the ratio of rice flour and water. I found that Appam flour is very useful to prepare Modak too !!

Ingredients

1 cup water (200 ml / 8 oz)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ghee

Extra 1 tablespoon oil

Method

Sieve Rice flour.

In a bowl, boil water. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon ghee. When the water starts boiling , remove the lid, reduce heat to minimum. Pour rice flour evenly with one hand and simultaneously stir with a spatula with the other hand (like Upma / Uppumaav preparation). Mixing of rice flour in boiling water is very important while making dough. It should be mixed evenly - else it may form lumps - which totally spoils the dish. Switch off the heat. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and cover with a tight lid. Keep aside for 5 minutes.

Transfer this rice flour mixture to another wide bowl, mix  it with 2 teaspoon oil and  knead again into a   an extra soft dough. Now the dough is very elastic in structure. One can fold / bind it to any form.Cover rice dough with a wet towel.

These recipe steps are adapted from Foodmatra.com

Grease modak mould  (inside portion) with little oil / ghee. Close modak mould.

Take a lemon size portion of the dough from the rice  dough mixture and make it almost pear shape. Insert dough into the modak mould. Rotate clock wise. Then it's easy to insert into the modak mould.

Make a cavity in the centre  of the dough with your thumb  finger.  Press the dough evenly with your thumb finger on the sides of the mould, making a large cavity in the centre.

Gently fill 2 – 3 teaspoon coconut mixture or any other filling (depending upon the size of the cavity) and fill up the cavity completely.

Take  small lemon size rice dough and seal the opening of the mould (seal the modak from the bottom), making it flat and even on the base with the help of a teaspoon.

Open the mould and remove modak carefully. Repeat this process for remaining modaks.

Final stage:

In a flat bowl (or in a steamer bowl) grease 1 teaspoon oil. Arrange modak carefully and steam in a steamer / rice cooker / pedavan / pressure cooker ( without weight ) for 15 minutes on medium heat or until done and soft. Serve warm with ghee.

Modak / Ukadiche Modak / Kozhukatta / Kolukattai (made of raw rice batter)

Modak  /  Ukadiche Modak  / Kozhukatta / Kolukattai - Modak is a sweet dish which originated in the Indian state of Maharashtra and it is considered to be the favorite dish of Lord Ganesha. It is customary to offer twenty one or hundred and eight modaks to Lord Ganesha. One can make fried or steamed modak. Coconut - jaggery mixture is the main sweet ingredient which enhances the taste. One can also add dry fruits. This’s a  new recipe from Festival Samayal by Viji Varadarajan.

Makes: 11 - 12

Preparation Time: 30 – 45 minutes

Steaming Time: 15 minutes

For the  Coconut Filling:

 7 - 8 tablespoon grated coconut

7 – 8  tablespoon melted and sieved jaggery

1 teaspoon ghee

1 pinch cardamom powder

1 tablespoons chopped dry fruits (optional)

Method

In a frying pan, heat ghee. Add melted jaggery and fry for 5 minutes on a low heat till fragrant.

Add grated coconut and mix it well. Do not cover with lid. Stir continuously and fry for 10 - 12 minutes on a low heat till the coconut - jaggery mixture dries up. Add cardamom powder and keep aside.  Finally mix with chopped dry fruits (optional).Sweet filling should be dry in consistency without water content.

Microwave method:

In a microwave safe bowl, mix grated coconut and jaggery and microwave high on 750 w for 2 minutes. Then it will be a thick mixture without water and almost dry in texture. Remove from microwave and finally mix with cardamom powder and chopped dry fruits (optional). Modak filling is ready now.

For the outer covering:

Ingredients

1 cup silky raw rice (ponni rice)

2 cups water

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon oil

Extra 3 teaspoon oil

Method

Wash and soak rice in 2 cups in hot water for 20 minutes. Drain out rice and reserve water. In a mixer bowl, make a smooth of soaked raw rice with ½ cup water (just to cover rice). Transfer this paste into another bowl and mix it with remaining water (in which the rice is soaked), salt and oil. Consistency of the raw rice batter  should be thin in consistency.

Transfer this mixture to a wide non stick pan and cook on a low to medium heat for 12 - 15 minutes or until the mixture thickens / leaves from the sides of the pan / difficult to stir and form a soft ball. At this point switch off the heat. Keep aside to cool for 10 - 12 minutes.  Then knead well with 1 teaspoon oil and make a soft dough without any lumps. This rice flour dough is very soft and it’s very easy to make Maharashtrian style modak.

It is also very suitable for the preparation of South Indian Modakam / Kozhukkatta / Kolukattai. (Sweet filling in lemon sized rice flour balls or semi cylindrical or half moon (like momos).

Here's the recipe link of '' How to prepare Modak using Modak Mould?

Divide rice dough into 11 - 12 portions and make round balls. Cover with these balls with a wet towel. So that it won’t get dry. Apply little oil on your palm. Flatten each round ball to form a cup (katori) shape. Place 2 – 3 teaspoon coconut - jaggery filling. Dip thumb and index finger in the oil and make 6 pinches side by side on the outer covering. 

Bring all the pinches together on top and join. Make perfect modak shape with the help of oil or with little water. Or you can use a modak mould. Dip each prepared modak in water and keep aside carefully. Then the outer covering won’t be dry.

In a flat bowl (or in a steamer bowl) grease 1 teaspoon oil. Arrange modak carefully and steam in a steamer / pedavan / pressure cooker ( without weight ) for 15 minutes on medium heat or until done and soft. Serve warm with ghee.

Dahi Poha Tadka

Dahi Poha Tadka – A quick preparation, made of poha (flattened rice), curd and seasoning). It’s good for summer and stomach upset. Recipe from Goodhousekeeping magazine.

Serves: 2

Ingredients

1 cup brown or white poha

2 cups fresh curd, best well

½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Method

Soak poha in water for 5 minutes (if using thick poha , soak in water for 5 minutes. If it’s thin poha, just dip it in water for 30 seconds and immediately squeeze out water). Mix it with beaten curd and salt to taste.  Keep aside in a serving bowl.

For seasoning (tadka):

2 teaspoon oil

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

½ teaspoon jeera (cumin seeds)

1/4 teaspoon urad dal 

4 curry leaves

¼ teaspoon hing (asafoetida)

Method

Heat oil in a small pan. Add mustard seeds. When they crackle, add jeera, urad dal, curry leaves and hing. Sit well on a low heat for 1 minute until fragrant and crisp. Pour the seasoning over dahi poha and consume immediately.

Khari Biscuits

Khari Biscuit

A delicious biscuits, made of homemade puff pastry. These biscuits are popular in Mumbai. Recipe from Tarla Dalal’s website & Gujarati Rasoi  You tube video.

Ingredients

200 gms plain flour (maida)

30 gms ghee

100 gms ghee

50 ml + 1 tablespoon ice cold water

1 level teaspoon salt

ghee for brushing

plain flour (maida) for rolling

Method

Sieve the flour.

Rub 30 grams of ghee very well into the flour.

Make a well in the centre. Add the salt in this well and pour a little ice-cold water (50 ml + 1- 3 teaspoon) on top.

Make a soft dough by adding some more ice-cold water.

Knead the dough for 2 minutes.

Keep the dough under a cloth for 10 minutes.

Roll out the dough with the help of a little flour to an along shape. Brush away the extra flour..

Apply the remaining 100 grams of ghee leaving aside a strip of about 12 mm. (1/2") width all around.

Cut the rolled dough into 3 unequal parts as shown in diagrams.

Roll up part no.1.

Put it over part no.3 and roll up with no.1 inside.

Put this rolled part on part no.2.

Go on pulling the edges to seal the ghee while rolling part no.2 with no.3 inside.

Sprinkle plenty of flour on a tray. Put the rolled dough over it and sprinkle flour again. Cover with a cloth.

Chill the dough in the freezer compartment of a refrigerator over the ice tray for 20 minutes.

Remove from the refrigerator and roll out to a rectangular shape.

Divide the dough into 3 imaginary equal parts as shown in diagrams.

This time no cutting is required. Fold part no.1 on the left on part no.2 and fold part no.3 on the right on part no.2.

Chill the dough in the freezer compartment of a refrigerator over the ice tray for 5 minutes.

Roll out once again into a big rectangle with the help of flour. Brush away the extra flour.

Cut the biscuits into 50 mm. x 25 mm. (2" x 1") rectangles or square.

Arrange these biscuits on a baking tray, brush with melted ghee and bake in a hot oven at 400°F or 200 * C for 15 minutes in batches (depending upon the size of the baking tray. Change the temperature setting from 50 * C to 200 * C when making next batch of biscuits). Reduce the temperature to 50°F and bake for at least 20 minutes more to dry the biscuits.

Cool the biscuits and store.