Sev Tameta Nu Shaak/Kathiyavadi Sev Tameta

     "Kismat Kathiyavadi" is a very well known dhaba near Vasad, about 22 kms from Vadodara my home town. Known for its authentic kathiyavadi food like ringan no olo, sev tameta nu shaak, bajri rotla, masala khichdi-kadhi, gathiya nu shaak, lasaniya bataka etc, the list is quiet long. It has been long time since we visited this dhaba so I decided to prepare this simple but very tasty dish for dinner tonite, actually I have to confess after returning from our trip to India, I was running low on my rations of veggies, all I had in hand was a handfull of tomatoes and few potatoes, then I remembered I had brought in a bag of sev from India and hence decide to prepare this dish ;)
This dish is very popular in gujarati households. It can be prepared in a giffy and is also a crowd pleaser. Simple ingredients, fast to cook and tastes amazing what else would you want from a dish!

I served this dish along with phulkas, lasan chutney and jeralu wali chaas.

Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped red juicy tomatoes
1 1/2 cups thick sev, I used ratlami sev as we prefer spicy food
1 tbs grated ginger
2 tsp dhania-jeera powder/ cumin-coriander powder
1/2 tsp haldi powder/ turmeric powder
1 1/2 tsp kashmiri lal mirch powder/ red chilli powder
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste
1 1/2 cups water
Handful of chopped coriander leaves for garnish.

For tempering:
2 tbs oil, I used canola oil
1 tsp jeeru/ cumin seeds
pinch of hing/ asafoetida

Preparation:

Heat oil in a kadhai/wok/heavy bottom pan, add cumin seeds and let them splutter, now add hing and grated ginger and sautee for about 15 seconds.
Add chopped tomatoes and all other ingredients except water and sev. Cook for around 3 minutes and add water.
Cover and cook for another 3-4 minutes and add in sev to the cooked tomato gravy.
Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and serve immediately with hot phulkas/chappati/bajri na rotla.

Tips:
This dish should be served as soon as you add sev to the gravy or else it will turn into soggy mess. If you are preparing it in advance then prepare the gravy and keep aside, just before serving the dish heat the gravy and add sev to it and serve warm.
Adding sugar is important as it balances the tang of tomatoes and sharpness of spicies.
Do not add onion or green chillies to this dish as it tends to overburden this dish with sharpness.
Serve it with garlic chutney and chaas along with phulkas/rotla for the authentic kathiyavadi taste.
Use ratlami sev instead of regular thick sev as it adds to extra favour and spice with goes very well with this dish.

Enjoy!

Ghaun Na Loat No Sheero/Gehun Ke Atte Ka Halwa/Whole-wheat Flour & Almond Dessert

Gujarati's are born with sweet tooth, well I might be exaggerating a bit, but for my family this stands totally true, my father, my hubby, my grandfather-in-law, infact my whole in-laws bunch are crazy sweet toothers. I have heard mind boggling stories about how my mother-in-law along with my grandmother-in-law and aunt-in-law used to prepare huge quantities of kansaar (sweet dish prepared from broken wheat, jaggery & water) and eat it as LUNCH, imagine just a sweet dish as lunch. These days we all laugh about it mentioning as old habits.
P hates sugar in his everyday meals but he is a die hard fan of sweet dishes. When it comes to choosing his favourite sweet dish, it comes down to roshogulla, soan-papdi, wheat flour halwa, sukhdi, mysore pak, gajar ka halwa etc etc, trust me the list is quiet long. I can surely say that he has one favourite sweet from every state of India.
I remember ghaun na loat no sheero was prepared by my mom on almost every other sunday, my sweet tooth dad devoured almost half of it in one sitting. After meeting P, I came to know he too enjoyed it, so just like my mom I too prepare it once a month atleast.
The best thing about this is that it is prepared using whole-wheat flour- good source of calcium, iron, fiber and other micro & macro nutrients and minerals like selenium, Jaggery- which is considered as wholesome sugar which contains more minerals and lesser chemicals than refined sugar, Ghee-which is clarified butter, milk, water, cardamom and dry fruits like almonds.
P and I both prefer it to be mild in sweetness.

Ingredients:
3/4th cup Whole-wheat flour
1/3rd cup ghee/clarified butter
1 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk
1/2 to 3/4th cup jaggery/gol/gud, crumbled
3 pinches of cardamom powder
5-7 almonds roughly chopped

Method:
Heat ghee in a deep heavy bottom pan and add whole wheat flour, mix well. Keep stirring and roast flour on medium heat till it is nice golden brown and releases lovely roasted aroma.
Now add warm milk and warm water to roasted flour, mix well on low-medium heat breaking all the lumps and stirring it till it is nice smooth. Add in jaggery and cardamom powder.
Keep stirring occasionally till jaggery has melted, at this stage do a taste-test and see if you need more sweetness to the dish, if yes add more jaggery. 
Cook for 2-4 minutes more on low-medium heat till sheero starts to separete from the sides releasing ghee.
Garnish it with chopped almonds and serve warm.

Tips:
You can add 1/2 tsp dry ginger powder/sunth powder along with cardamom powder, it tastes best during wintery months. Dry ginger powder has medicinal properties from combating cold & cholesterol to treating nausea, sea sickness and help thinning blood.
Powder of ginger root gives a nice "aahh whats that?" taste to the dish.
Always remember to use warm milk and warm water or else the roasted flour will turn up in unforgiving lumps.
If you are planning for a low fat version of this dish just replace milk with same quantity of water, ie 2 cups of warm water instead of 1cup warm water and 1 cup warm milk.

Methi Na Thepla/Gujarati Dhebra/Fresh Fenugreek Leaves Flatbread

Dhebra is one of the most loved Gujarati tea time snacks/dishes. It is a type of paratha which has bitterness from fenugreek/methi leaves, sweetness from the sugar, sour taste that come out of curd and heat from the green chili paste. In addition to this, this paratha has the goodness of garlic & ginger, pearl millet and whole wheat flour, not to forget all the green leafy veggies going into it. It can't be healthier than this.
Gujarati's are well known for their handva, muthiya, dhokla and thepla/dhebra. Dhebra can serve different purposes like tea time snack to midnight snack and from travel food to picnic munchies. Dhebra are popular with kids to grown-ups alike.
I remember having dhebra in my school lunch box prepared by my mom, BTW she makes the most flavourful dhebra I've ever tasted. This is her recipe. So here's some recipe which just can't go wrong.

Makes 20-22, 6" diameter dhebra.
Ingredients:
3 cups firmly packed chopped fresh fenugreek/ methi leaves
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour/ chapati flour
1 1/2 cups pearl millet/ bajri flour
2 tbs of oil
3 pinches of hing/asofoetida.
2 tbs green chili, ginger & garlic paste
1 1/2 tbs sugar
3 tsp kashmiri red chili powder
2 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste, usually requires 2 to 3 1/2 tsp of salt but it can be adjusted according to taste.
1/4th cup yoghurt (a little bit of sour yoghurt is best for this recipe)
Few mls of water for kneading the dough.

For cooking we shall require a few more tbs of oil for shallow frying. About 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour for dusting.

Method:
In a deep bowl all both flours and 2 tbs of oil, give it a nice rub till the oil is nicely incorporated in the flour.
Now add all the spices, ground paste, sugar and salt and give it a nice rub once again.
Add fenugreek/methi leaves and mix it well.
Now start to knead a semi soft to hard dough adding a tablespoon of yoghurt at a time, till you run out of 1/4th cup of yoghurt. Add water to knead dough after this, remember pearl millet doesn't need too much liquid to form a dough hence add few tbs of water at a time.
Dough should not be runny at all, you should be able to make ping-pong sized balls out of it.
Let this dough rest for 20-30 mins.

Now make ping pong sized balls out of the dough and roll out 1/4th cm thick paratha, using whole wheat flour for dusting. Heat tava/griddle/non stick pan (if planning to make oil free dhebra) and place rolled out dhebra/paratha on to it. After 30 seconds turn dhebra with spatula and let it cook on the bottom side. Apply 1/4th tsp of oil on the top surface and turn it to shallow fry, press your spatula and keep turning the paratha every 20 seconds till golden brown spots appear on them.
Repeat this with all the remaining dough balls.

Dhebra can be served with pickles,jam, coriander chutney, garlic chutney, spiced curd, sweet curd or any dal or curry of your choice. This paratha/dhebra goes very well with masala chai/tea.

Dough

Shallow fried with golden brown spots

Dhebra served with sweet & spicy lemon pickle

Limbu Nu Galiyu Athanu/Nimbu Ka Achaar/Sweet & Spicy Lemon Pickle (Oil Free)

Gujarati Cuisine is never complete without a athanu/achaar/pickle and/or sambharo of any kind. Sambharo is nothing but a few veggies stir fried in light oil along with mustard seeds, turmeric and asafoetida, but I shall not be talking about that right now... will post a few sambharo recipes later.
Today I shall be talking about Pickles, there are so many pickles in gujarati cuisine that a whole blog can be dedicated to it... well I don't intend to do that literally but I'm just making a point to the number of variety of pickles. P loves Lahsan nu athanu (garlic pickle) and I prefer Keri nu Khattu athanu(Mango Pickle). Every household has its own way and recipe of each kind of pickle may it be garlic pickle or mango pickle; mix veg pickle or carrot pickle and these range for spicy to sweet to just tangy...
In old times each pickle was made painstakingly by roasting and grinding each and every individual ingredient and then concocting them to make a wonderful aachaar/pickle, reminds of Egyptians and the Mummification process .... giggles. But during these times of hi-tech age, pickles too have gone hi-tech, proof.... just visit any supermarket isle of Indian food and you shall find ready made bottle pickles, made with preservatives and added vinegar etc.... authentic pickles never had any of these. Won't admonish those ready made pickles more coz I myself have a couple of them adorning my fridge... :)
P and I have never been much of a sweet pickle persons but ever since my mother in law prepared a lovely oil free limbu nu athana a few years back during my visit to India, the mere process of making it made me fall in love with it and the oil free tag was even more attractive than ever before. My mom too made this pickle and in a way by very similar method but you know we kids how we ignore and underestimate our own mom, I literally used to avoid contact of any sort of that pickle and so did my siblings ... sorry mum mi :)

So talking about the lemon pickle, this pickle has the potential of adding some zing to any regular boring meal. Prepared with just 4 ingredients and placed in sun to bake under pure solar heat, one of the easiest and tastiest pickle I've ever made. This pickle tastes much better with jaggery but I didn't have it in my pantry, so had to settle for sugar instead.

Take 1 1/2 kg lemons, wash them and MAKE SURE TO WIPE EACH LEMON DRY INDIVIDUALLY, after wiping them off let them sit in open air on a counter top or any driest place possible, this will make sure that there is no damp spots on lemons. Cut each lemon into 8 wedges, if you are taking smaller sized limes (kind of those we get in India) cut them into 4 wedges.
Take a large transparent air tight glass jar (make sure its thoroughly dry) big enough to fit in all the lemon wedges and stack the wedges in it.
Add 1/3 cup salt  and close the jar and shake well. (This process was done on 23rd april)
Place the Jar in sun for about 20 to 25 days, make sure to shake the jar atleast twice a day. After 20 days check if the lemon wedges for the softness, apply pressure with you thumb and index finger and if they give away the wedges are ready for the next step. If the wedges don't break off then close the jar and keep them in sun for a week more. The baking of wedges totally depends on the sunlight it receives and the atmospheric conditions, here in Riyadh, which is a middle of dessert there is no scarcity of sun and hence my pickled lemon wedges were ready in just 18-19 days.

Now add in 750 grams or 3 cups white sugar (added on 12th may) close the jar and shake well, keep it in sun for couple 6-7 days or till the sugar has melted and wedges duly marinated in it. Mean while make sure of that shaking the jar twice a day. Keeping in sun at this stage helps to slowly cook sugar and gives it a nice caramelized flavor and texture.

Now on the brink of completion just add in 3 tbs red chilli powder/kashmiri lal mirch (added on 18th may), close the jar and shake well.
Done.
Now you can enjoy this pickle whenever you want. What I usually do is that after adding red chilli powder, I let the pickle rest for couple of days in the big jar and then transfer them into smaller individual jars and place them in fridge, this way most of the pickle will remain air tight and fresh while I have just one small jar out for daily consumption.

The best thing about this pickle is, as it ages its nutritional value increases. You can expect it to change into a bit darker shade after a couple of months but it is suppose to happen, so don't sweat.
This pickle has a self life of upto 5 years in an air tight container and about 9 months to 1 year once its opened, but then it won't last that long. :)

Forgot to take snaps of the big jar (the one in which I prepared the pickle) so this is one of my 4 individual smaller air tight jars.

Tips:
You can add equal amount of Jaggery instead of sugar for additional benefits of avoiding refined sugar.

Ringan Nu Bhartu/Baingan Ka Dahiwala Bharta/Eggplant & Yogurt Dip With Fresh Spices

Baingan ka bharta is a predominantly Punjabi dish made from eggplant/baingan, grilled over charcoal or direct fire to impart a smoky flavour to the flesh of the eggplant and then cooked with spices and vegetables and served with variety of breads or as a side dish.
But today I shall be making an another version of it, this has a shades of Middle eastern dish called Baba Ghanoush but nevertheless is authentic to Western Indian Cuisine.
P loves this dish and devours every bit of it every time we have it for lunch/dinner. It has sweetness of eggplant, tangy taste from yogurt and green chillies give it a kick of hot and onion is added for its ability to enhance flavors of other fellow ingredients. This dip/side dish is especially prepared during summer time when the sun is blazing hot; yogurt has cooling effect and onion helps combat sun stroke; not to forget that this dish is very light and friendly to our digestive track. This is the only eggplant dish that I prefer eating wholeheartedly, as unlike P I'm a very picky vegetable eater. :)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Place 1 large eggplant/baingan on a baking sheet and bake 20 to 30 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat, cool, peel, and crush.
OR
Pressure cook the eggplant, cool, peel and crush.
Add 1 large onion chopped finely.
300 gms yogurt
2 green chillies chopped finely.
handful of finely chopped coriander leaves/cilantro
salt to taste
1/4 tsp freshly ground peppercorns/kali mirch powder
Mix well and refrigerate it for at least 1 to 2 hours before serving.

Serve it as side dish with any meal of your choice or along with any bread of your choice, tastes lovely with pita and/or paratha.

Kanda Pauva/Kanda Pohe

Yet another breakfast recipe tempered with simple spices, kanda pauva (as called in Gujarati) or kanda pohe (as called in Marathi & Hindi) gives a very nice filling sensation and its easy on stomach too. Usually this dish is made for lazy sunday's breakfast at my in-laws place back in Baroda. This dish is soo easy its really hard to screw up. :)

Wash 2 cups Pohe/pauva/beaten or flattened rice flakes (easily available at Indian stores) in a seive and make sure to drain them immediately. Keep aside.

In a heavy bottom pan heat 2 tbs of vegetable oil, add
1/2 tsp rai/mustard seeds
1/2 tsp jeera/cumin seeds

when they crackle add
1 sprig curry leaves
1/4 tsp hing/asafoetida
2 dry red chillies
3 slit green chillies
1 tbs grated ginger

saute for 20 seconds and add
1 large sliced onion
saute for 40 seconds and add in the set aside pauva/pohe
1 tsp haldi/turmeric powder
3 tsp sugar
juice of one medium sized lime
salt to taste
mix well. Sprinkle a little water and let pohe cook for about 2-3 more minutes on medium heat.
Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and serve it along with a glass of juice of your choice or hot tea or coffee

Tips:
Use sev to garnish kanda pauva, this will add nice crunch to the dish.
You can also sprinkle daadham/pomegranate to have a nice tropical taste.
Squeeze lill more lime for that extra kick of sour taste and ofcourse a lill bit more Vitamin C won't harm you anyway. :)

Bhindi ki Sukhi Sabzi/Stir Fried Okra with Onions/Kanda-Bhinda nu Shaak

The thing about Bhindi/Okra is that either you love it or you hate it, P is on the love side and I'm on the hate side, rather to say 'was on the hate side'. I still remember, we had just been married for about 3-4 months and I had just reached Riyadh for the first time and we had started our new life together. I hated bhindi so much that I didn't even care to know how its prepared, :) I had to call my mother-in-law to ask for the recipe with P liked the most, it wasn't over there, P forced me to eat same quantity of bhindi sabzi as much as he ate, I'd say not the best dinner!!!


P has a very funny food fundamentals, he says "we have to develop liking for a dish in very specific way, start by eating it little by little and then one day will come you shall like the most dreaded food too!!", now I guess I agree with him. I love Bhindi but only if it is prepared in a very specific way and is not soggy and gooey.

This is a very simply but tasty recipe, actually simplicity is the key to this recipe, let the vegetable advocate for itself don't overpower its taste with adding un-necessary spices.

Heat 3 tbs oil in heavy bottom pan

add 1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera and let it crackle

now add 1/4 tsp hing/asafoetida and curry leaves

Add 2 small to medium sized chopped onions and 3 tsp of ginger-garlic-green chili paste.

Saute for 1 min and then add 250 gms chopped okra/bhindi

Add salt to taste and 1/2 tsp turmeric powder.

Mix well and cook on low flame till okra is tender and done. NEVER PUT A LID WHILE COOKING OKRA OR THE DISH WILL TURN INTO A SOGGY GOOEY DISH.

Once the okra a done add 3 tsp of Dhania-jeera powder/coriander seeds-cumin seeds powder and 1/2 tsp red chili powder

Mix well and turn off the heat.

Serve warm with roti, chappati, naan or paratha of your choice. Tastes great with Dal-Chaval too.

Tips: Add 1/4th tsp of tava masala or garam masala for a more aromatic sabzi.

Nylon Khaman-Microwave Recipe

Healthy snack prepared in a jiffy, sounds like a keeper, yeap I'm talking about gujju dish called khaman. Gujarti food is well known for its sweet and sour taste and unique preparations, Khaman falls in that category.Tasty because it  has sweetness from sugar, tangy taste from citric acid crystals and hot flavor from green chili and ginger. Healthy because it is steam cooked (here microwaved) without excessive oil or frying.
And on top of it, it is prepared from besan which is a very good source of protein. Hence we can say this is a guilt free snack.
Khaman falls into the category of dhokla, along with khatta dhokla, rasia dhokla and more famous these days are tri-colored cheese dhoklas. Usually dhokla are made by fermenting the chickpeas batter but the nylon khaman calls in for chickpea / bengal gram flour and is the easier version compared to other dhokla recipes.
The word "Nylon" perfectly adheres to this khaman because it is very smooth to palate plus airy and tender in texture.
 I had great time cooking this recipe which took less than 12-15 mins from start to finish. :)

Ingredients:

For Khaman:
1 cup Besan (Bengal gram flour)
2 tbs rava/sooji/semolina
pinch of turmeric powder/haldi powder
3 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp citric acid crystals/nimbu ke phool
1 tsp ginger-green chili paste
1 1/2 tsp Eno/fruit salt
salt to taste
1 cup water

For Garnish:
handful of chopped coriander leaves
1 tsp of red chili powder/lal mirch powder

For Tempering:
2 tbs oil
1 tbs sesame seeds/ til
1/2 tsp mustard seeds/rai
2 green chillies slit and halved
pinch of asafoetida/hing
3 tbs water

Method:
Grease two microwave safe containers of approx 5 to 6 inch diametre and keep aside.
In a big bowl combine all ingredients for khaman except eno, mix well and break any lumps that might have formed in the batter.
Now add eno to the batter and pour 2 tbs of water on it in such a way that eno sizzzles up into a foamy bubbly mix. Now mix the batter well so that eno is fully incorporated in batter.
Pour this batter into two greased containers and wrap it with cling film (if you dont have a cling film then cover the container with microwave safe plate)
Place one container in microwave and Microwave on 100% power for 2 minutes. Let it stand for 90 seconds and then remove. Repeat this process for second container.
Remove the wrap and let khaman cool down a bit.
Prepare them for tempering by cutting them into square pieces and sprinkling red chilli powder and coriander leaves on them. Keep aside.

For tempering :
Heat oil in a small pan, add rai to it and once it starts to crackle add til, hing and green chillies. Turn of the heat and add 3 tbs of water to it. Pour this tempering mix to prepared khaman.
Serve with chutney of your choice or ketchup, I prefer with green chutney.

Urad Dal Hara Masala/ White lentils cooked with ginger, garlic and green chillies

How can we vegetarians, fill in our protein needs?!! Anyone's guess, turn to lentils. Urad dal cooked with all green spices, by green spicies I mean real fresh grown ones... which include green onion, green garlic (dont sweat if you dont have green garlic, add in normal garlic pods as I did), green chillies and ginger and the result is tempting garlicy aromatic dal.
We gujju's love this dal with bajri rotla/ bajre ki roti. Besides this I love this dal as a sippy side dish and goes great along with any sukhi sabzi  and roti.
Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup urad dal/white lentils, pressure cooked and lightly mashed
3 green chillies slit in half
1 inch piece of ginger chopped
5 pods of garlic chopped
2 green onions, including the greens, chopped
salt to taste
1/2 tsp mustard seeds/rai
1/2 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
2 tbs oil for tempering
pinch of asafoetida
handful of chopped fresh coriander, for garnish.

Method:
Heat oil in heavy bottom pan and add oil, once it starts to smoke add in mustard and cumin, let them crackle
add in asafoetida. Now add all chopped greens and saute for 1 minute.
Add in lightly mashed urad dal and salt to taste.
Add in 1 1/2 to 2 cups of water and bring it to boil.
Garnish it with chopped coriander and serve hot.

Tips:

This dal goes well with jeera rice and as well as any kind of parathas.

Dal Dhokli / Pasta in Lentil soup Indian Style

Consider this as a totally authentic pasta dish not coming from Italy but from heart of India, Gujarat. Fresh pasta simmered in tasty, spicy and aromatic lentil soup, slice of heaven served on plate. The wholesomeness of whole wheat flour and protein rich lentils make this dish extra special.
Gujaraties are well-known for their love of food and the range of dishes which are unique in itself and this dish comes as a proof of it.
Some people describe dal dhokli as a pasta-like dish as I do, but the practice of dropping everyday bread dough into a simmering pot, puts it in the dumpling category too. So its upto you to pick your choice.
This is a one pot dish and a favorite in Gujarat as a Holiday evening dish.
Happy Cooking.

Ingredients :

For Gujarati Dal:
1/2 cup toor dal/arhaar dal/split pigeon peas, pressure cooked/boiled and crushed/churned
1/2 tsp mustard seeds (rai)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1 tsp fenugreek seeds (methi)
10-12 curry leaves
2 small round red chillies (boriya)/dry red chillies
1/4 tsp asafoetida (hing)
1 tbs oil
2 tbs peanuts
8 pieces cocum, soaked/2 tbs lemon juice (I used lemon juice)
3 to 4 tbs jaggery (gur)/ sugar
1 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
4 green chillies, slit
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp grated ginger
salt to taste
Handful of freshly chopped coriander leaves/cilantro for garnishing

For Dhokli:
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (gehun ka atta)
1 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp asafoetida (hing)
2 tbs oil
1 tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
salt to taste

Method :

Preparing Dhokli-
Mix the atta, ajwain, chili powder, salt, turmeric powder oil, asafoetida, oil and add enough water to it to make a stiff dough. Divide the dough into 8 equal sized portions and roll out the dough, cut it into square or diamond shaped pieces, separate the individual pieces and keep aside on a large tray to dry out.




Preparing Dal-Dhokli-
In a large and deep pan, heat the oil, and add the mustard seeds. When they start to pop, add peanuts, cumin seeds, curry leaves, fenugreek seeds, asafoetida, red chillies and finally add the cooked dal.
Add the slit green chillies, grated ginger, turmeric powder, red chili powder, jaggery and lemon juice and plenty of water (around 4 cups).
Add Salt to taste.
Bring it to a boil.

Add the dhokli pieces to the dal and cook it for a few minutes on medium heat until the dal starts to thicken and the dhoklis have softened and cooked. I usually add dhoklis and pressure cook them for 1 whistle.
Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves.

Tips :
Serve hot with a dollop of ghee, thats the traditional way of enjoying dal dholki.
Dal dhokli can be prepared using left over gujarati dal, just add 2-2 1/2 cups of water to left over dal and bring it to a boil, adjust the spices if necessary, add in dhoklis and pressure cook for 1 whistle or till dhoklis are cooked.
Prepare double recipe of dhokli and freeze half of it in Ziploc bags for future use. Time saving hmmm!!! so that next time I only need to make some dal and drop in the dhoklis.
In case you have leftover dal dhokli, reheat it with a little water to thin it out.

Aloo Methi Subzi

Winters always remind me of lovely green veggies that we get back in baroda. Palak, methi, tandalja etc are the types of green veggies which are usually a part of evening dishs at our home in baroda. Though palak is readily available here in riyadh, its hard to find fresh methi or tandalja leaves, so my solution to this problem, P's mom, she sun dries fresh methi leaves for me, Thanks Mom :)
So today while surveying my lader I found myself stuck with same veggies and no options so decided to prepare sukhi aloo subzi, then as if miracle happened and dried methi leaves showed their presence by falling off the cabinet while I was trying to get some bowls out of lower cabinet shelf. And so I just soaked it and prepared this mouth watering, simple and aromatic dish.

Ingredients :

2 Large Potatoes Boiled and cubed
1 Small to medium onion chopped to strips
Handful of dried fenugreek leaves/kasuri methi alternatively can use fresh methi leaves too.
2 tbs til/sesame seeds
2 tbs ginger-chilli paste
1 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp rai/mustard seeds
1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
1 tsp urad dal/white lentils
1 tsp methi seeds/fenugreek seeds
pinch of asafoetida
salt to taste
3 tbs oil for tempering

Method :
Soak kasuri methi for half an hour.
In a heavy bottom pan heat oil, add urad dal, rai,methi,jeera. When it starts spluttering add asafoetida, ginger-chilli paste, sesame seeds, onion, turmeric and kasuri methi. Let this mix cook on medium flame till the onions are tender and cooked to crunch.Add salt along with boiled-cubed potatoes. Turn off the heat after 4-5 mins.
Serve hot with chappati or paratha of you choice.

Tips :
Goes good with sindhi koki.
Left over can be used to prepare sandwiches or alternatively mash up the left over sabzi and prepare aloo paratha for snacks.

Chikki- Caramelized peanut bars

Chikki, Uttarayan(kite flying festival) favorite, is a ready to eat Indian sweet. Chikki has given International fame to places like Matheran, Karjat and Lonavala (places near Mumbai), which are world renouned exporters of different kinds of chikki's.
Traditionally, Gujju's prepare chikki during the month of January especially during uttarayan time. Talking about uttarayan, HAPPY UTTARAYAN TO ALL, what is uttarayan without patang, manja, phirki, chikki, sherdi and boar... ahh getting nostalgic. Coming back to chikki, it is prepared using either sugar or jaggery (traditional unrefined non-centrifugal sugar used in india, sri lanka, pakistan and even south america) either/along with sesame seeds, peanuts, cashew, almonds, pistachios, coconut, puffed rice, etc.

Brazil is famous for "Pé-de-moleque" a traditional sweet from the Brazilian cuisine made of peanuts and jaggery or molasses similar to indian chikki, rather to say one and the same.

Chikki prepared with jaggery is deemed to have more beneficial properties than one prepared with sugar, as jaggery retains more mineral salts and is absorbed in blood at slower rate than sugar. Indian Ayurvedic medicine considers jaggery to be beneficial in treating throat and lung infections too.
Whatever the reasons, I and P both like our chikki's made from jaggery.

Ingredients :

2 cups Peanuts (roasted, chaffed and coarsely pounded)
1 1/2 cups Jaggery
1 tbs Ghee/clarified butter
Few Drops of edible oil for oiling the surface to work on for spreading the chikki(prefer groundnut oil or corn oil, oils like olive oil have a very specific taste and aroma to it so avoid it)

Method :
In a heavy bottom pan add ghee and jaggery, let the jaggery melt and bubble up for a minute or two, stir in every few seconds. Now ladle out a drop of jaggery on any plate or counter top and see if it sticks to it or not, if it sticks let the jaggery bubble for a bit longer, but if the jaggery forms a nice non sticky ball add pounded peanuts. Turn off the heat and mix well.
Now place this mixture on nicely oiled surface and with the help of rolling pin roll out chikki to desired thickness. But before you start rolling take care this mix will be very hot so let it just cool for 1 minute or so. Take care not to burn yourself.
Break up the pieces of the rolled out chikki once it has cooled off or you can also cut the pieces while its rolled and still hot. I prefer to break it into pieces gives me the feel of "MA ke haath ka bana", choice is yours.

Tips:
Add 2 tbs of sugar to make chikki more crunchier.
While making Sesame/til chikki the proportion will be 2 cups til and 1 cup jaggery.
Once you place the chikki mixture on oiled surface, oil you hands too and tap on top of chikki to make it a nice round flat ball this will make the process of rolling out easy.
Store it in an air tight container. Shelf life upto 15-17 days, if it lasts that long. :)

Athela Marcha (Pickled green chillies)

Athela Marcha sounds and tastes amazing with any dish which is bland, such as plain khichdi or varan dal and rice. Athela marcha which literally means pickled chillies add instant kick of spiciness to any food. The Recipe which I have used is an authentic Gujarati Recipe and is followed by my mom and my M-I-L equally. I bet pickles never were more simplier than this!!!


Ingredients :

250 gms Vadhwani lila marcha/jalapeno peppers/jada marcha
75 gms rai na kuriya / split mustard seeds
1 to 1 1/2 tbs of salt (adjust as per your taste)
2 tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp Hing / asafoetida
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder



Method :

Wash and dry chillies, slit them length wise remove the seeds from prepping them to be pickled.
Now toss all other ingredients into a wide utensil and mix them well, here "well" means really well, for about 5 to 7 minutes. mix them using your hand, esp your palms as this process helps in utilizing body heat in melting salt quicker and more uniformly.
Add in the slit chillies and mix them well with the prepared achari mixture.
Store this in glass jars at room temperature for 2 days and there after in refrigerator for upto 20 days.

Tips :

Storing pickle at room temperature for 2 days is crucial coz this gives time for chilles to nicely marinate and absord all the flavors.
Make sure to shake up the pickle jar during these 2 days.
You can add 1 tbs of split fenugreek seeds to this pickle too, if you prefer a bit bitter kick in your pickles.
This pickle can be served with any kind of parathas, snacks and goes good with everyday food as a side dish. It can also be chopped into bits and added to veggie raita and used as one of the topping on pizza etc. Just let your imagination go wild!!

Muthiya/Muthia

This lovely steamed dumpling snack comes from the heart of Gujarat. Gujarat is famous for its food especially handvo, muthiya, dhokla, patra, khaman, khamni etc the list is endless. Muthiya is all time favorite tea time snack, sweet and tangy soft muthiya is a comfort and mouth watering snack for those lazy sundays when I just feel like laying back and reading my favorite novel.
I still remember my mom making this lip-smacking dish frequently during winter as fresh methi leaves are abundant during that time. She used to prepare it using kanki-korma loat (ready mix of rice and lentil coarse flour). Here in riyadh its impossible to find kanki -korma loat and methi leaves, so I have modified my mom's recipe to suit my need.

Ingredients :

2 tbs garlic-ginger-green chillies paste
350-400 gms or 1 1/2 cups to 2 cups peeled and grated bottle gourd/dudhi/lauki
1 medium sized cucumber/kakdi peeled and grated
1 large onion grated
1/2 cup whole wheat flour/atta
1/2 cup semolina/rava/soji
1/2 cup besan/chickpea flour
1/2 cup pearl millet flour/bajri ka atta
2 tbs rice flour/chokha no loat
2 tbs oil
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
1 tsp fennel seeds/saunf
2 tbs sugar
1/4th cup yogurt/curd/dahi
1/4th tsp soda-bi-carb
2 tsp lemon juice
handful of chopped coriander leaves
pinch of asafoetida

For Tempering :
2 tbs oil
1 tsp mustard seeds/rai
1 tbs sesame seeds/til
Pinch of asafoetida/hing

For Garnishing :
3-4 tbs of chopped coriander leaves
2 tbs grated coconut (optional)

Method : (For Muthiya)
Strain juices out of grated lauki, onion and cucumber and keep it aside as it can be used to knead dough if required.
Mix all the ingredients of muthiya in a large bowl and knead into soft dough using the veggie juice if required. You can also add more yogurt instead of veg juice for that ultimate soft muthiyas.
Now oil your palms and form cylindrical shaped muthiyas and place them in a steamer.
Steam them for 25-30 mins or untill well done. To check it they are ready, insert a tooth pick in muthiya and if it comes out clean they are ready and done.
Let them cool for a while.
Cut them into bite sized pieces and get them ready for tempering.

Method : (For Tempering)
Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan and add mustard seeds. Once they start crackling add sesame seeds and asofoetida.
Add cut muthiyas and stir them in for 5-7 mins.
Garnish it with chopped coriander and coconut.
Serve Hot with green chutney.

Tips: The key to great tasting muthiya is in sweet and sour taste along with delicate softness which can be achieved only with adding right amount of sugar and curd. Sugar can be adjusted according to taste and can be avoided if you don't prefer sweet at all but there should be no compromise of yogurt, it is a must. If you knead dough entirely from dahi, you can never can go wrong with softness issue, but remember in this case don't add lemon juice at all.