Prawn Pulao

One of my mum's yummy recipes. You can simple make it a vegetable Pulao by skipping the prawns.

Ingredients:

1. Prawns - cleaned and marinated with salt , haldi and chili powder  - 2 cups
2. Carrot chopped into slices - 1 cup
3. French beans (1 cup)
4. Potatoes (chopped - 1/2 cup)
5. Green peas ( 1 cup)
6. Onion chopped ( 2 cups)
7. Eggs - 4
8. Rice - 3 cups (washed)

For the masala

1. Ginger - 1 big piece
2. Garlic - 15-20 cloves
3. Coriander - a small bunch
4. Cloves - 8-10
5. Pepper - 15-20
6. Cinnamon - 3-4 sticks
7. Green chillies - 5-6
8. Tamarind - 1 tea spoon

Method:

1. Grind all the ingredients for the masala and keep side

2. Heat little oil. Deep fry the onions

3. Once soft, remove in a plate.

4. Deep fry the carrots and potatoes. 

5. Add peas after a while

6. Once cooked, remove from heat and mix with fried onion 

7. Heat little oil. Fry the prawns for about 7-8 minutes.

8. Once cooked, add to the fried vegetables

9. Add little oil. Add the eggs one by one

10. Mix well (like scrambled eggs)

11. Add to the vegetables mixture.

12. Add the ground masala and once again keep on flame while stirring so that the masala gets applies to all the vegetables.

13. Heat little oil in a pressure cooker vessel. Add the rice and fry for about 2 minutes

14. Add vegetable mixture

15. If Basmati rice is used, add 2 cups water for 1 cup rice. So add 6 cups of water. For regular rice add 2.5 cup water per cup of rice.Add salt as per taste and chili powder if required.

16. Pressure cook. (Allow 3 cooker whistles).

Dal Dhokla

One of my mother in law's creation, a very heathy snack option!

Ingredients:

For the Dhokla:

1. 1 cup green gram dal (mug dal)
2. 1 cup Bengal gram dal (chana dal)
3. 1/2 cup rice
4. 6-7 green chillies
5. 2-3 mediumn ginger pieces
6. Lemon (1/2)
7. 1/2 tsp soda

For the tempering:

1. Mustard seeds
2. Curry leaves
3. Cumin seeds
4. Pinch of asafoetida

Method:
1) Wash all the dals together and soak in the morning

2) Grind in the evening with the chillies, ginger and salt.

3)Keep batter overnight.

4) In the morning, Heat little oil. Once hot add the soda. Pour this in the batter. Also squeeze in the lemon (Sorry forgot to take a picture here)

5) Grease a flat vessel with oil. Pour batter. Steam for 15-20 minutes.

6) For the tempering, heat a little oil. Add the mustard seeds, jeera and curry leaves. Add a pinch of asafoetida. Let it splutter.

7) Pour over the steamed dhokla. Server hot with chutney.

Friday chicken

This is my own recipe. I call it Friday chicken because it has been our Friday night dish on many occasions :)

Ingredients:

For the marinade:
1) Garlic (10 -15 cloves)
2) Ginger (1 medium piece, peeled and chopped)
3) Coriander (A handful)
4) Mint leaves (A handful)

For the chicken:
1) Curry leaves (15-20 leaves)
2) Green chillies (3-4 chopped & vertically slit)
3) 3-4 cloves
4) 2-3 cinnamon sticks
5) Onion (3-4 medium sized, chopped vertically)
6) Chicken (150 gms) cleaned and chopped into small pieces

Method:
1) Grind the Garlic, ginger, coriander and mint leaves into a fine paste.

2) Marinate chicken with turmeric, chilly powder and the ground paste.

3) Heat oil. Add the cloves, cinnamon sticks. Add Green chillies, curry leaves and onion.

4) Once onion turns brown, add the chicken.

5) Add ready made Everest chicken masala. Add chilly powder/salt as per taste.

6) Let it cook on medium heat. Keep stirring in between. Garnish with coriander.

Alsane tonak

This is typical Goan recipe.  Alsane are a type of legumes readily available in Goa.

Ingredients:

1) 1 cup alsane soaked overnight
2) 1 onion chopped vertically
3) 7-8 cloves
4) 3-4 cinnamon sticks
5) 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
6) 7-8 black pepper
7) 1 cup grated coconut
8) One potato  (optional)

Method:

1) Chop the potato in large pieces. Pressure cook the alsane along with potato. (3 whistles)

2)  Heat oil in a pan. Fry all the spices together

3) Once slightly brown, fry the onion.

4) Once the onion is brown, add the grated coconut.

5) Once brown, turn off heat and let cool. Then grind this in a mixer to form a fine paste. Unfortunately, no picture here.
6) To the cooked alsane, add this ground paste.

7) Add haldi powder, chilli powder and salt as per taste. Add water if required. Garnish with coriander.

Jain Cauliflower Bhaji

Mondays is no onion day at my place. So I sometimes use this simple maharastrian recipe for mondays!

Ingredients:

One cauliflower
3-4 green chillies chopped.

Method:

1) Heat oil in a pan. Once hot, add mustard seeds and cumin. Once they splutter, add green chilies.  Add little haldi powder. Add salt.

2) Add the chopped cauliflower. Stir till it is well mixed.

3) Keep the pan covered with a lid. Add little water to the lid.

4) Keep stirring intermittently till the cauliflower is cooked. Garnish with coriander.

5) The original maharastrian recipe also uses grated coconut for garnishing, but I usually avoid coconut unless necessary just to keep a check on chorestrol levels!

Ragda Pattice

Everybody likes Ragda Pattice Prepared on the streets. Here is my mum's recipe of this mouth watering dish :)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups white chana
• 2 onions chopped
• 2 tomatoes chopped
• Coriander for garnishing
• 5-6 medium to big sized potatoes

Method (Ragda):

1) Soak the chana for 7-8 hours. Pressure cook in cooker. (3 whistles)

2) Fry the onions in a little oil.

3) Once slightly brown, add haldi powder and chili powder. Fry for 2-3 more mins

4) Add chopped tomatoes. Fry some more time.

5) Add the cooked chanas. Add salt as per taste. Allow to cook for few mins.

6) Take a small portion of this cooked mixture. And grind in mixer.

7)   Add the ground paste back to the curry. Cook for few more minutes. Garnish with coriander

Method (Pattice)

1) Boil the potatoes. Mash them once cooled.

2) Add haldi powder, chili powder and salt. Shape into flat round balls. You can also add finely chopped onion , green chillies (optional, i did not add them).

3) Add little oil to a pan and shallow fry.

Tamarind chutney and Pudina chutney:

I used some recipes on the internet and prepared these chutneys but they did not turn out to be well. So you can either download the recipes from the internet or buy these chutneys from any chaat shop. 

To prepare the Ragda pattice, lay 2 pattice on a plate. Pour a spoonfull ragda. Add the tamarind chutney and pudina chutney. Add finely chopped onion. And fine shev. Serve and enjoy watching your guests gulp it down! Unfortunately, don't have a picture of the final dish!