Gharge

Pumpkin is incredibly rich in vital antioxidants, and vitamins. They contain no saturated fats or cholesterol; however, it is rich in dietary fiber, anti-oxidants, minerals, vitamins. The vegetable is one of the food items recommended by dieticians in cholesterol controlling and weight reduction programs. But, we don’t actually buy and eat a pumpkin, do we? My son only knows that we buy pumpkins for Halloween and carve it. So, how can we make it interesting without losing its benefits?

Gharge is a maharastrian (Indian) dish, but is usually fried. The other day, my mother-in law tried both the fried and baked puris and the pics tempted me to try the baked version with baking powder.

Ingredients:

2 cups grated pumpkin

2 cups grated or powdered jaggery

Whole wheat flour (1 ½ cup) rough estimate

Pinch of salt

2 tbsp clarified butter (ghee)

Baking powder 2 tsps

Cardamom powder

Start by grating the pumpkin and while doing that measure it. Keep the grated pumpkin aside. Grate or use powdered jaggery and mix it in the pan in which you will cook the pumpkin. Place the pan on medium heat and start cooking the pumpkin first. Place the lid on the let the pumpkin cook on steam. Once that is done, add the jaggery and cook it without the lid now. You will notice that it changes color and starts getting dry. Don’t wait for it to be completely dry. Turn off the heat and let it cool a bit. Add a little cardamom powder according to taste.

Now in a different pot, add the cooked pumpkin and jaggery mix. In this start adding the ghee, baking powder and blend in the whole wheat flour. Continue adding the flour till you can form a proper soft dough. Once you see a soft dough as in the picture, add a little ghee on it and keep it aside.

Now, take small ping pong sized balls and roll them/flatten them with hand into small puris and bake these in a pre-heated oven (350 f) for about 8-10 minutes till you see the change in color.

Do not wait till the sides get brown or else the puris will turn out hard. You have to take them out, when they are soft as these are not fried.

Idli Batter

Who doesn’t love idli? This is one food item that I have seen all age groups enjoying. Right from toddlers who have just started eating solids to old people- It’s such a popular dish. Even in the US, it is evident from the growing number of south Indian restaurants springing up.

Well, making idli batter at home is very easy and it is a good option than buying the expensive idli batter that is sold in the Indian grocery stores over US. First of all, you can make a lot of idlis for cheap at home and secondly, you know they are fresh and have the ‘made at home’ touch J

It is not at all a tedious task as generally thought of. All you need is some patience and you will have a lot of delicious idlis with sambar for dinner.

 Ingredients:

Par boiled rice 3 katoris

Urad dal 1 ½ katori

Dry fenugreek seeds 1/8 tsp

Poha (beaten rice) a handful

Step 1 Soaking

Step 2  Batter

Fermented batter in idli stand

Ready to eat soft spongy idlis with sambar and chutney

This will make about 30 idlis. First of all, you need you soak all the given ingredients in a large vessel. Soak it at least for 6 hours. Then, using the extra water, blend it all in a blender to a thin batter. Make sure the batter is not thick, or else the idlis will turn out hard.

Once, the batter is ready, pour it in a large container with a lid. Make sure you leave enough space for the batter to ferment and rise.  Now, leave it overnight in the oven with the light on. You will have a nice fermented batter ready to make idlis. Pour the batter with a ladle in the idli maker and steam the idlis for about 10/15 mins per batch. Enjoy with sambar and chutney.

Healthy Ladoo (paushtik ladoo)

Thinking of an afternoon snack for my kid which is healthy and yet yummy was kind of challenging. I usually try to avoid feeding him nuggets and fried snacks. Of course, chips and junk food is always the easy way out, but who wants that crap in your body, right? Then, my mom suggested this recipe with wheat and millet flour. It has a variety of nuts and is made of jaggery instead of sugar.

It does require home made ghee, but ghee is a healthier option than oil and jagggery better than processed sugar. Clarified butter or ghee is rich in Vitamins A, D, E, and K. Ghee is rich in the healthy fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, which are critical to bone, brain, heart, and immune system function.

You will need:

1 katori whole wheat atta

¼  katori millet flour

2 tbsp poppy seeds

¼ katori dessicated coconut

¼ katori chopped almonds

¼ katori chopped walnuts

6 dates

1/2 katori powdered jaggery

I started roasting the wheat atta in a pan with little clarified butter. Roast till you see the change in color. It should turn slightly pink. Keep it aside. In the same pan, roast the millet flour till it changes color. Keep it aside too. Now, comes the poppy seeds and dessicated coconut. It is very important to roast everything properly. The roasted coconut and poppy seed mixture then goes in the blender along with the dates. After it is turned to a fine powder, mix the poppy seed and coconut mix in the roasted atta and flour combo. 

Mix the jaggery powder to the atta and flour combo and now put the poppy seeds and coconut, date powder all together in one pan and let it cool. You can also add the chopped almonds, walnus and any other nuts of your choice to this pan.

After it is cooled, melt the clarified butter in a small pan and then pour the hot ghee in the atta mix. You will notice that it becomes wet and comes together so that you can bind it into a ladoo form. Start binding it and this mix will make about 10/11 ladoos. 

Oil free Chicken

It’s hard to believe, right? I am sure you are reading the title again and again. But, it is true. Eating out has become a strict no-no for us recently and one of the big reasons for this is the amount of oil that we see floating in all the dishes. This is especially true with most Indian and Pakistani restaurants in the Bay Area. Also, most of the dishes taste the same and are greasy and fatty.

But my husband’s love for chicken made me wonder if there can be anything non-oily and healthy. And voila, here is the recipe.

Add caption

Ingredients:

12 Chicken drumsticks/boneless chicken

Lots of curry leaves

1 ½ tsp Whole coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp sesame seeds

½ large red onion

4 cloves of garlic

3 cinnamon sticks

8 peppercorns

3 cloves

4 cardammon pods

3 Dry red chillies

Salt to taste

Lemon juice for garnishing

Cilantro for garnishing

Dry fenugreek seeds for garnishing

For the marination:

Turmeric powder

Onion garlic powder (kanda lasun masala)

salt

First start dry roasting the cinnamon sticks, pepper corns, dry chilies, and cloves. Add the coriander seeds, cumin and sesame seeds later. After they are roasted add the finely chopped onions and garlic to the masala. Keep it aside to cool.

In a pressure cooker, add the marinated chicken and lots of curry leaves with one cinnamon stick and cook it thoroughly till the chicken is cooked.

Now, after the masala is cooled, blend it with water to a fine paste. Once the chicken is cooked in the cooker, pour it in the pan that you want to boil the masala with the chicken. Add the masala that you blended in a paste as needed. Do not add all the masala at once. Try to boil the chicken and wait for the masala to release all the flavors. Add as required and according to taste.

After the chicken boils in the masala for about 20 minutes on low heat, add the dry fenugreek seeds and lemon juice according to taste and turn off heat. Add fresh chopped cilantro just before serving. Your oil free chicken is ready J

Dinda

Dinda 

Everytime on nagpanchami, my mom used to make puran polis, a delicacy enjoyed by maharashtrians. This is roti filled with a sweet filling of chana dal and jaggery. This is a complicated recipe and so there is one more option for people who prefer an easier way out. It is called Kadbu or dinda. The difference between the two is that one is fried and one is steamed like modaks. I naturally opt for the steamed one.

You will need 2 cuos of chana dal and 2 cups of jaggery for this recipe. You need to pressure cook the dal till it is soft and mushy. Remove all the water from the pot and use only the dal. There is a strainer for making this dal perfectly soft without any granules and as you pass the dal through this ‘puran yantra’ you will see the fine paste like dal residue.

Now, take a different pot and add the measured jaggery with the dal residue/paste and set it on a medium flame. As the jaggery starts melting, you will notice that the mixture starts to become moist. Continue stirring it until you notice that the mixture starts binding. Turn of the flame and add some cardammon powder once it is slightly cool and also add some slivered almonds and raisins. Keep it aside.

Start cooking the chana dal and jaggery

Notice how the dal becomes dry as it cooks. You know it is ready.

Now make a dough with wheat flour as you would for making rotis. It should be soft. Now, take a small ping pong sized ball of dough and start making a small roti out of it using a rolling pin. Fill in a spoonful of the dal and jaggery mixture in it and fold it in a square. After you finish about 10 start putting them in the idli maker to steam. Steam atleast for 15 mins on high heat.

Serve hot with lots of home made ghee.

Modak

Steamed Modak

Every Ganpati festival, as a child, I remember going to my grandmom’s house with all my cousins and celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi. As the days of ganpati festival drew near, the air filled with sound of dhols and tashas. Apart from the decorations, bringing the ganesh murti home, and singing aartis, the best part was ‘making modaks’.

This sweet, melting in your mouth delicacy is liked by everyone. Right from my childhood, I have seen my mom and all my aunts make this delicacy. 

As the years went by, I moved to the U.S and I started making them on my own in my own kitchen. Though it might seem intimidating, but making modaks is not that difficult. Of course, nothing can beat the care by which my grandma would soak the finest rice and dry it to grind it to a fine flour. This process ensures a fine flour that makes the modak covering stiff that does not break easily. These days I buy the rice flour that is available in the Indian store.  

For 2 people, you will need:

2 katoris shredded coconut

1 katori jaggery powder

¼ katori sugar

1 ½ katori water

1 tsp oil

2 katoris rice flour

Pinch of cardammom powder

For the filling, you will first need to add the jaggery, sugar and coconut mix in a pot and wait till it melts and cook till all the separated water starts reducing and turn off heat just as the jaggery-sugar and coconut mix starts getting dry. Cool it off and then add a pinch of cardamom powder. Keep this aside.

In a different pot, take 1 ½ katoris of water and wait till it starts boiling. Add the oil and a hint of salt in it and cover with lid. As soon as it starts boiling, add the rice flour and turn off heat and cover with lid.

Wait for 5 mins and uncover and mix the rice flour and form a soft dough. Use the dough and make modaks- taking a ping pong size ball of dough and filling in a spoonful of filling.

Flatten the rice flour ball with your fingers and fill in the jaggery mix. 

After filling in the jaggery mixture, you will start folding corners by pinching the rice flour mix with two fingers.

Now, gather all the folds together and the modak is ready. Steam the modaks in an idli cooker for 15 mins and serve with home-made ghee.

Kolhapuri Bhadang

Kolhapuri Bhadang

This is one snack that is light and can be eaten at any time of the day. You will need some kolhapuri bhadang masala and kolhapuri murmura for this recipe. Kolhapuri murmura is easily available in Indian stores around here. Though, I usually order or buy bhadang masala from India.

Ingredients

Kolhapuri murmura 4 cups

Red onions 1 large cut in thin slices

4/5 large garlic cloves chopped fine

Peanuts to taste

Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp

Green chillies, slit lengthwise 2/3

Curry leaves (kadi patta)4 to 5

Roasted Bengal gram (chana dal) 2 tbsp

Asafoetida (hing)

Turmeric powder (haldi) a pinch

Powdered sugar 2 tsp

Oil 4 tsp

Salt to taste

Bhadang masala

Red chili powder to taste

 Method

1.     Roast the murmura in a non-stick pan (for 3 to 4 minutes)or in a microwave in batches with each batch for about a minute, stirring occasionally till the murmura is crisp

2.    Heat the oil in a non-stick pan, add the mustard seeds, green chilies, and curry leaves. When the seeds crackle, add the asafoetida and turmeric powder and mix well.

3.    Add the chopped onions and garlic to the tadka. Fry the onions and garlic on high heat till it turns brown.

4.    Then, add the roasted Bengal gram and roasted peanuts and stir.

5.    Turn off the heat and add the murmura, sugar and salt and mix well. Add red chili powder and bhadang masala powder.

6.               Cool and store in an air-tight container.

Pohe Chiwdaa

 Pohe Chiwdaa

Dry snacks are a must in my house. Easier to eat and a necessity at tea time, chiwda and bhadang are two must-haves in my kitchen closet.

 My husband needs something to eat when he comes home from office and at the same time wants something not fried and not sweet and fatty. So, I make him a typical Maharashtrian snack called ‘chiwda’. This is made of flat poha (beaten rice)and is garnished with peanuts and dalia (roasted chana dal).

This is a simple recipe and yet light for the stomach and not fatty. It stores easily in a tight container and lasts a long time.

Ingredients

Beaten rice (poha) 4 cups

Peanuts to taste

Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp

Green chillies, slit lengthwise 2/3

Curry leaves (kadi patta)4 to 5

Roasted Bengal gram (chana dal) 2 tbsp

Asafoetida (hing)

Turmeric powder (haldi) a pinch

Powdered sugar 1 tsp

Oil 1 tsp

Salt to taste
white sesame seeds

Coriander cumin powder

Red chili powder to taste

 Method

1.                 Roast the beaten rice (poha) in a non-stick pan (for 3 to 4 minutes)or in a microwave in batches with each batch for about a minute, stirring occasionally till the poha is crisp

2.                Heat the oil in a non-stick pan, add the mustard seeds, green chilies, curry leaves and roasted Bengal gram and roasted peanuts and stir. Add the sesame seeds in the tadka too.

3.                When the seeds crackle, add the asafoetida and turmeric powder and mix well.

4.               Add the roasted beaten rice, sugar and salt and mix well. Add red chili powder and coriander and cumin powder.

5.                Cool and store in an air-tight container.

Live to eat and yet stay healthy. अन्न हे पुर्ण ब्रह्म

Live to eat and yet stay healthy. अन्न हे पुर्ण ब्रह्म 

My love for food started when I was pretty young and mostly because my family is extremely fond of eating. We all live to eat rather than eat to live. And, I think my love for food began because of all the tasty and scrumptious meals my mom has been feeding me all these years. I always had a passion for cooking, but that flourished in the literal sense only when I came to the US and started cooking on my own.

I remember cooking small meals or baking cakes out of recipe books and helping my mom cook sometimes, but my major learning happened by watching my mom cook. It was merely observation and eating with the curiosity to find out what went inside the dish.

Once I started cooking on my own in my own kitchen, I started understanding the importance of measurements and little quirks about different cuisines. More importantly, I started to cook more because my husband Kedar loves to eat like me and I liked the small praises for the food I cooked. Of course, initially I did think e was just trying to be NICE to me, but then he started telling me to start a blog, which I finally started today after more than 7 years of marriage.

Over the years we realized that eating unhealthy is not worth it, and I started making variations in the foods that I cooked and now I think we still enjoy all kinds of food but with a hint of healthy, yet tasty meals.

Today, we avoid fried and greasy foods in our meals and somehow we don’t seem to miss them in our diet. We have switched to organic meats and eating more green leafy veggies and that makes me wonder why I never ate them when I was young.

Eating healthy does not always mean eating boring dull food. I know we can make it interesting and tasty with little compromises and more variations. Today, with the amount of processed foods that we get in stores, and with the growing number of junk food chains, we are aware of the harms caused to our body. So, why not make small changes in our food intake and better our health for the future?

I have learned most of my basic recipes from my mom and rest all I have adapted from the internet, friends and family and have revised them according to our taste and liking. After all, taste preferences matter a lot on an individual level.