Mirchi Bhajji

Ingredients
Gram flour - 1 cup
Rice flour - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Baking Soda
Long Green Chillies - 5 or 6
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

For filling the Green Chillies - Take 2 tbsp of Ajwaine (ova) and salt and grind well to make powder.

Procedure
In a bowl take add gram flour, rice flour, baking soda, salt and mix well with water. Add sufficient water to make fluid thick batter.

Cut the green chillies length-wise to open up the inside. Remove the chilli seeds and make the inside hollow. Now fill this with the Ajwaine powder that we prepared earlier.

In a deep frying pan heat the oil on medium flame. Now dip these filled/stuffed green chillies into the gram flour batter and replace into the heating oil for deep frying. Fry till golden brown from all sides. And your Mirchi Bhajji's are ready to savor.

Author's Note
The most important part of making the Mirchi Bhajji's tasty is to make sure that the batter is not very watery and is sufficiently thick to form a layer around the chillies when dipped.

A good and spicy snack to go with the chilli in the air during that aromatic Rainy season.

Onion Pakoda (Onion Bhajji)

Ingredients
Onion - 1 1/2 longer slices
Gram flour (Besan) - 1/2 cup
Green Chillies - 2 or 3
Ginger - small piece
Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1 tbsp
Coriander
Turmeric - 1/4 tbsp
Rice flour - 2 tbsp
Baking soda - 1 tbsp
Oil to fry

Procedure
In a mixture/grinder jar, put the green chillies, Ginger, cumin seeds, Coriander and turmeric and grind into a paste. Keep aside.

In a bowl take the onion slices, gram flour, the green chilli paste, salt, turmeric, rice flour, baking soda and mix well by adding small quantity of water. The mixture has to be very hard so make sure that you don't put too much of water while mixing.

Heat the oil in deep frying pan. Using hands for releasing the pakoda's in oil slowly release them into the heated oil by squeezing the paste in your palms. Let the pakoda's come out as they are coming out from your hand while squeezing. Fry to medium flame and remove when fried to mild brown. And your tasty pakoda's are ready to savor.

Author's Note
To serve prepare the red-chilli chutney. Cut a medium sized onion into small pieces and add to it 1/2 tbsp of red chilli powder, 1 tbsp of heated oil and mix well into a paste. Onion pakoda's along with this Red-Chilli chutney is fabulous combination. It's just too good to savor these pakoda's when the rain drops on the roof-top: Garma-garm Kanda Bhajji...

There are two variations to making these pakoda's.
1. More of Onions and less of gram flour will make your pakoda's crispy
2. Less of Onions and more of gram flour will make you soft pakoda's. This soaks more oil while frying.

Similarly, you can prepare Methi-Spring Onion pakoda's (Bhajji's).

Kaju Nut Pakoda

Ingredients
Besan (Gram flour) - 1/4 kg
Kaju (Cashewnuts) - 1/4 kg
Baking soda - 1/2 tbsp
Pure Ghee / Dalda - 1/4 kg
Oil - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Red Chilli Powder - 1 tbsp

Procedure
Heat 1 tbsp of oil for a minute. Now in a bowl take the gram flour and add salt, baking soda, red chilli powder and the above heated oil. Mix well all the above ingredients. Now add the Cashewnuts and mix well. Add some water while mixing to make a reasonably thick dough.

NOTE: - While preparing the dough make sure that dough is make hard enough by adding sufficient water to the gram flour while preparing the dough.

Now in a deep frying pan, heat the Pure Ghee / Dalda. Now take some dough in your palms and release them into the pan slowly into small pakoda's. Fry until golden brown on low-medium flame. Make sure that you don't fry them more. Now prepare all your pakoda's like this and your snack is ready.

Author's Note
This is a very good Evening snack and can be preserved for around a month's time. Once prepared, store in an air-tight container and savor whenever you feel like munching upon something.

Chakodi - South Indian Snack

Ingredients
Rice flour - 1 cup
Water - 1 cup
Ajwaine (Ova) powder - 3 tbsp
Butter - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

Procedure
Boil water in a bowl and slowly add butter, ajwaine powder and rice flour. Make sure you add the rice flour slowly to avoid formation of balls. Now add salt to taste. Remove from flame and cover with a lid. Set aside for around 3 to 4 hours, to cool.

After around 4 hours, mix the above into a dough. Take a small portion of the dough and roll into a long rod-like form. Cut this into small logs of around 2-3 inches. Move these into expanding spiral to form the wonderful chakodi's. In the same way prepare all your chakodi's with the dough.

In a deep frying pan, heat the oil. Once the oil is hot enough to deep fry, slowly deep fry the above prepared chakodi's.

Author's Note
A very tasty snack easy to prepare and can be preserved. Once prepared, store in wair-tight container and they will last for around 1 month. These are very good tea-time snacks.

Rava Dosa

Ingredients
Suji (Sooji) - 1 cup
Rice flour - 1/4 cup
Curd - 1 cup (curd should be little sour)
Maida - 1/4 cup
Jeera (Cumin seeds) - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Garnishing -
Onions - 1 big finely chopped
Green Chillies - 3 or 4 finely chopped

Procedure
In a bowl take Suji, rice flour, Maida, cumin seeds and salt. Add to this the curd and mix well into a batter. Keep aside this batter for an hour.

Add some water to this batter and mix well making sure that the batter is not very watery nor is it very hard. The whole idea is to make the batter just perfect.

Now take a shallow frying pan and heat 1 tbsp of oil spreading it across. Now take the dosa batter (around 1 big spoon) and prepare the round dosa by slowly expanding it from the middle (alternatively you can use a small katori / steel cup). Add a little oil at the edges and fry on both sides till golden brown.

Once the dosa is fried, before serving sprinkly the finely chopped onions and green chillies. Fold the dosa and serve hot with Coconut Chutney or Idli Chutney.

Author's Note
Idea of Rava Dosa is to prepare the batter just perfect and fry on both sides till golden brown.

Moong Vada

Ingredients
Moong Dal - 1 cup
Green Chillies - 7 or 8
Jeera (Cumin seeds) - 1 tbsp
Onions - 1 (big finely chopped)
Ginger - 1 small finely chopped
Curry Leaves
Coriander
Poha - 1/4 cup
Salt to taste

Procedure
Soak poha and moong dal in water for around 2 hours. After 2 hours wash well and remove all the excess water. In a mixture/grinder jar take this poha-moong dal mix and grind into a coarse paste (Paste should not be very smooth). Keep aside.

In the mixture/grinder jar take ginger, onions, green chillies, curry leaves, coriander, salt and jeera. Grind well to a paste (do not add any water while grinding). Now mix this with the moong dal paste. Mix well, but do not add any water.

In a deep frying pan heat some oil (sufficient for deep frying). Make small round shaped vada's by hand with a hole in the middle. And fry these slowly in the oil. Pleae make sure that the flame is on low/medium while frying. This is required for the vada's to be completely fried. Light golden brown color at the outside would confirm that the vada's are ready to savor. And your delicious vadas are ready.

Author's Note
While frying make sure that the flame is kept on low/medium. With high flame vadas might be fried from outside but inside it will still be uncooked. These
vadas goes very well with curd mixed mango pickle.

Cheese Gobi Paratha

Ingredients
Wheat Flour - 1 cup
Cauliflower - 1/2 cup chopped and boiled
Cheese - 1/4 cup
Green Chillies - 4 or 5
Coriander Powder - 1/2 tbsp
Butter - 1/4 cup

Procedure
Take the wheat flour in a bowl and add 1/4 tbsp of salt to it and prepare the dough. The dough should be hard enough to prepare the chapati's.

In a bowl take the boiled cauliflower and add salt to it. Mix the chopped chillies, Garam Masala and Cheese with this, thoroughly.

Now prepare the chapati by taking a small amount of dough and when a small chapati is made put the above prepared cauliflower mix and close from all sides to stuff it. Roll slowly into a chapati. While rolling into a chapati, please roll evenly so that the stuff goes to all the parts of the chapati.

In a pan put some butter and heat for a minute. And now fry the chapati on slow/medium flame. Fry on both sides and if needed add some butter at the edges
while frying. And your Cheese Gobi Paratha is ready to serve.

Author's Note
This Paratha goes very well with Mango pickle. Also you can have this with curd (Salt or Sweet).

Maharashtrian Poha

Ingredients
Poha (Rice flakes) - 1 cup
Potatoes - 1/4 cup finely chopped (cut in small pieces)
Onions - 1/4 cup
Jeera (Cumin seeds) - 1 tbsp
Rai (Mustard seeds) - 1 tbsp
Green Chillies - 3 or 4 (cut in small pieces)
Ginger & Garlic paste - 1/4 tbsp
Hing - 1 pinch
Turmeric - 1/4 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil

Procedure
In a deep frying pane add 5 tbsp of oil. Heat it for a couple of minutes. Now add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, onions, ginger-garlic paste, green chillies, turmeric, salt to taste and potatoes. Fry for some time till potatoes are softer and a little crispier.

Parallely in a bowl take 2 cups of water and soak the rice flakes in it. Soak for a couple of minutes and then squeeze all the water from it. Add this into the above frying pan and mix well. Keep stirring while adding the rice flakes. Heat for around 5 minutes on medium flame. And your delicious Maharashtrian Poha is ready to savor.

Author's Note
Poha goes very well with lemon pickle. You can also add groundnuts and/or green peas.

Palak Paratha

Ingredients
Wheat Flour - 1 cup
Palak (Spinach) 1/2 cup finely chopped
Butter - 1 1/2 tbsp (will taste good if it's prepared at home)
Turmeric - 1/4 tbsp
Jeera (Cumin seeds) - 1 tbsp
Rai (Mustard seeds) - 1/4 tbsp
Green Chillies - 4 or 5
Coriander
Ginger and Garlic paste - 1/4 tbsp
Red Chilli Powder - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil

Procedure
In a bowl take wheat flour and put all the above ingredients including the finely chopped spinach (Wash the spinach before adding to the wheat flour). Since spinach inheriently contains some water you will not need to add water initially while preparing the dough. If need arises then add some water to prepare the dough. Dough needs to be hard enough to prepare the chapati's. Set aside for 5 mins.

Add 1 tbsp of oil to this dough and mix well. Now take some amount of dough to prepare the chapati's. In a shallow frying pan put 1 tbsp of oil. Heat for a minute and now fry the chapati's. Fry well on both the sides. You might want to add some oil at the edges while frying. Prepare all the paratha's with the same process and your delicious palak paratha's are ready to eat.

Author's Note
This paratha goes very well with curd with sugar or salt. You can add a tinge of butter while serving. The same process can be applied for -
Methi Paratha - Instead of finely chopped Spinach you will need to add finely chopped Methi and prepare the dough.
Mooli Paratha - Instead of finely chopped Spinach you will need to add finely grated Mooli and prepare the dough.
Kakdi (Cucumber) Paratha - Instead of finely chopped Spinach you will need to add finely grated Cucumber and prepare the dough.
Cabbage Paratha - Instead of finely chopped Spinach you will need to add finely chopped Cabage and prepare the dough.
Parmel Paratha - Instead of finely chopped Spinach you will need to add finely grated Parmel and prepare the dough.

Aloo Paratha

Ingredients
Wheat Flour - 1 cup
Salt - 1/4 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp

Potatoes - 5 or 6 medium sized boliled potatoes
Onions - 1 finely chopped
Green Cillies - 2 or 3
Jeera (Cumin seeds) - 1 tbsp
Rai (Mustard seeds) - 1/4 tbsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tbsp
Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 tbsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tbsp
Coriander Powder - 1/2 tbsp
Kasturi Methi - 2 tbsp
Ginger & Garlic Paste - 1/2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Procedure
Take 4 tbsp of oil in a frying pan and heat for a couple of minutes. Add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, turmeric, chopped onions, green chillies, garam masala,

Coriander powder, Red Chilli powder, Ginger Garlic paste and salt and fry for a couple of minutes. Now add the potato pieces and mix well all the above

ingredients. Heat for some around 4 to 5 min. This will make sure that all the Masala is ingrained good into the potato pieces. This would make the paratha's

very tasty. Now switch off the flame and add kasturi methi to it and cover with a lid. Adding kasturi methi would give a unique distinct flavor to the potato

curry/masala. Put this aside to cool.

Using wheat flour and salt with 1 tbsp of oil prepare dough. Now prepare small chapati using the dough and put a big 1 tbsp of the above potato curry. Close

this chapati from all sides to stuff the curry. Now slowly roll this into a chapati (making sure that you don't press too hard while making the chapati).

Make the chapati's evenly so that the entire curry is distributed through out the chapati.

Now in a shallow frying pan add 1 tbsp of oil and fry the stuffed chapati. While frying you can add some oil at the edges and fry till a light brown tinge on

both sides. Make all your stuffed chapati's like this and your Aloo paratha's are ready.

Author's Note
Aloo paratha goes very well with Curd with sugar or salt. Also Mango pickle goes very well with this.

Using the same procedure you can prepare Gobi Paratha (using boiled Gobi) or Mixed Paratha (using boiled cauliflower, grated carrot, tomato and peas).

Masala Khichidi

Ingredients
Rice - 1 cup
Water - 1 1/2 cup
Chana Dal - 1/4 cup
Jeera (Cumin seeds) - 1 tbsp
Rai (Mustard seeds) - 1 tbsp
Ginger & Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp (This is readily available in the market. Alternatively you can also prepare it at home by grinding to paste Ginger and Garlic Flakes)
Curry Leaves
Green Chillies - 3 or 4
Garam Masala - 3/4 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil for tadka
Coriander

Procedure
Soak Rice and Chana dal in water for 1/2 hour before we start the preparation. Remove the excess water and keep ready for the next stage.

In a rice container (Pressure Cooker) heat the oil for a minute or two. Add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, Green Chillies (chopped), Curry Leaves, Ginger & Garlic paste, Garam Masala and Salt and shallow fry for a minute. Add Rice and Chana dal to this and fry for another minute or two. Now add 1 1/2 cup water to this and heat it for one boil.

Now put the Pressure cooker lid and heat on medium flame for 3 to 4 whistles. After this switch off the cooker and allow the it to cool for 5 minutes.

After this remove the rice from the cooker and garnish with Coriander leaves. Your Masala Khichidi is ready to serve.

Author's Note
Curd Mirchi or Papad or Poppadum goes very well with this dish. Also Maharashtrian Kadi or Tak would go very well with this.

Curd Rice

Ingredients
Cooked Rice
Milk - 1/2 ltr (Luke warm)
Curd - 1 cup
Jeera (Cumin seeds) - 1 tbsp
Rai (Mustard seeds) - 1 tbsp
Curry Leaves
Coriander
Green Chillies - 1 or 2
Salt to taste
Hing - 1 pinch
Oil for tadka
Ginger - 1/2 tbsp finely chopped

Procedure
Take the already cooked rice and put this in the bowl containing the milk. Add curd to this and leave it overnight for fermentation (4 to 5 hours of fermentation is also good enough).

To this fermented rice add salt to taste.

Now, in a frying pan (Kadai) heat 2 tbsp of oil. Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds, hing, green chillies (chopped), curry leaves and Ginger. After couple of minutes remove this from the gas/burner and add this to the above fermented rice.

For garnishing, cut the Coriander leaves and garnish from above. And your Curd rice is ready to serve.

Author's Note
A simple procedure, yet very tasty. The crux is to make sure that rice is also added to the curd during fermentation. This way the sourness of the curd will go inside the rice giving it a delicious flavor.

All Dal Vada

Ingredients
Moong Dal - 1 cup
Chana Dal - 1/2 cup
Urad Dal - 1/2 cup
Green Chillies - 5 or 6 nos (depending upon how spicy you like it)
Ginger - 1 small finely chopped
Coriander
Onions - 1/2 cup finely chopped
Curry Leaves
Jeera (Cumin seeds) - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Procedure
Soak Moong Dal, Chana Dal and Urad Dal in water for 2 hours. Remove the excess water and grind well. Make sure the batter is coarsely grinded. Keep aside.

In the grinder jar take the Green Chillies, Ginger, Coriander, Onions, Curry Leaves, Cumin seeds and salt and grind well to a paste.

Mix the above two ingredients (Grinded batter and the Green Chillies paste). These should mix very well.

Now take a wet cotton cloth and on it pour a small amount of the batter and prepare Vada in the shape as required. In a deep frying pan heat the oil for around 5 min in medium flame. Now fry the above prepared Vada's in this oil on medium flame, till crispy brown color. Lower the flame and constant stirring would make Vada's more tastier.

Author's Note
As a side dish, take the Mango pickle and add a tbsp of Cream (Malai) to it. Mix well and serve with the hot Vada's. This combination is just too delicious to resist.

Moong Dosa

Ingredients
Plain Moong Dal - 1 cup
(If you have Green Moong Dal, then soak it in water for 3 hours and remove the green covering)
Jeera (Cumin seeds) - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Procedure
Soak Moong Dal in water for couple of hours. Remove the excess water and wash well. Grind this in a mixture/grinder for a coarse paste. Add water while grinding, if required. Make sure that the paste is not too liquidy. Add cumin seeds and salt to this while grinding. Your batter is ready for making Dosa's.

Take a non-stick pan and take a small bowl full of dosa batter and spread it round. Heat on medium flame. And your delicious Moong Dosa is ready.

Author's Note
Moong Dosa with Groundnut Chutney is a perfect combination.

Upma

Ingredients
Upma Rawa - 1 cup
Water - 2 cups
Cashewnuts (pre-fried in Pure Ghee) - 5 or 6 nos
Urad Dal - 1/2 tbsp
Chana Dal - 1/2 tbsp
Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1 tbsp
Rai (mustard seeds) - 1/2 tbsp
Lemon - 1/2 cut
Green Chillies - 2 nos
Ginger (finely chopped)- 1/2 tbsp
Pure Ghee - 3 tbsp

Procedure
In a frying pan take the Pure Ghee and heat it for a minute. Add Urad dal, Chana dal, Cumin seeds, Mustard seeds, Green Chillies and Ginger. Fry for a couple of minutes. Add Upma Rawa to this and fry for around 3 to 4 min. Make sure you constantly keep stirring to avoid over heating of Rawa. Put this aside.

Take two cups water in a frying pan and boil it. Add salt to this. Now add the above fried Upma Rawa to this water slowly by continuously stirring the mixture. This is to avoid the formation of balls of the Upma Rawa. After heating for another 3 to 4 min to a smooth mixture, add Cashewnuts and a tbsp of Ghee to this. Stir thoroughly to mix well, all the ingredients.

And Voila! Your Upma is ready to serve and savor.

Author's Note
Serve hot with a slice of Lemon.

There are few variations to this Plain Upma. Follow the steps below:
Onion Upma - While frying all the ingredients, before adding the Upma Rawa, add finely chopped Onions (1) for a minute or two. And then add the Upma Rawa and fry further. Follow the second paragraph above.

Carrot Upma - Take a carrot and cut it in small pieces. In a container take a cup of water and add salt to it and allow it to boil. Add the carrot pieces to this and let them boil for some time till carrot pieces turn soft. While frying all the ingredients, before adding the Upma Rawa, add these boiled carrot pieces and fry for a minute or two. Then add the Upma Rawa and fry further. Follow the second paragraph above.

Mutter Upma - While frying all the ingredients, before adding the Upma Rawa, add Mutter (Lightly boiled Peas) for a minute or two. And then add the Upma Rawa and fry further. Follow the second paragraph above.

Tomato Upma - While frying all the ingredients, before adding the Upma Rawa, add finely chopped Tomato (1) for a minute or two. And then add the Upma Rawa and fry further. Follow the second paragraph above.

Also you can add potatoes or a combination of all the above to make a good mixed Upma.