Have always been a fan of the Maharashtrian misal. Today we tried cooking the matki misal. The sweet and sour taste of this dish is balanced well by the chilli to give a healthy lentil soup. Ideal for breakfast or evening snacks. This can also be eaten with a pav to make it more filling.




Method
1. For matki sprouts,  Soak 100 gms of matki(moth beans) in water overnight. Drain the water the next morning and tie this in a fine muslin cloth so that it starts sprouting,
2. Soak some 2 small marble sized  tamarind in water and then squeeze it well to make 2 tbsp of tamarind water and keep aside
3. In a pan, heat 1 tbsp oil . When hot, add 1 tsp mustard seeds. When the seeds splutter add handful of curry leaves and a pinch of asafoetida. To this add 1/2 tsp coriander powder, 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 1/2 tsp red chilli powder and a pinch of haldi and saute for a few minutes on a low flame.
4.  Add the matki sprouts and water to get a gravy with very thin consistency, Add 1 small marble sized ball of jaggery (or according to taste) and the tamarind water. Add salt according to taste. Bring it to a good boil and then turn of the flame.
5. Serve with farsan and finely chopped coriander leaves.

Just realised how life becomes easy thanks to technology...earlier I used to click photos with my camera and then download them, enhance them on my laptop and then write posts. the whole process was such a time taker that posting  became a cumbersome affair. Now with my new Nexus 5, I can click pics, enhance them and then blog from the comfort of my phone or also laptop...much easier..
Yes the quality of the pics may go down a bit but then it you need to give some to get some...





Method

1. Take 3 cups of maida and 1 tbsp of rawa. To this add 2 tbsp grated coconut, salt, 2 very finely chopped green chillies and mix 2 cups of water.
2. Take a tempering pan, add coconut oil and 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds and 1 sprig of curry leaves. Add this to the maida batter.
3. Adjust the water to get a watery consistency
4. Place tawa on flame. Smear with oil and spread the batter thinly  when the pan is hot. Once a side looks cooked (you can figure this out when the edges turn brownish), flip the dosa and cook the other side.
The rawa gives an added crispiness to this dosa. The seasoning is so good that you dont need chutney with this dosa. 

I love the Usal Pav made by my mom. It was always a special breakfast /snack option at home. Wanted to replicate that the other day but did not have the white peas at home. Decided to just go ahead with dried green peas and it turned out as good - guess the masala does the magic for me.


Method
1. Soak 1 1/2 cup of dried white peas (I have used green peas here) overnight in water. Boil it in the morning (I cooked it in the pressure cooker for 1 whistle and then simmered for a few mins) and keep aside.
2. Take 2 tsp oil in a non stick pan and when hot, add 1 tsp mustard seeds. Add 1 tsp cumin seeds when the mustard seeds start spluttering. Add 3-4 split red chillies, 1 inch of cinnamon and some 4-5 cloves and saute. I also added 2 green chillies finely chopped.
3. Add 2 finely chopped onion and saute. Add a little salt while sauteing the onion. Saute the onion till its translucent.
4. Add 5-6 pods of garlic finely chopped and saute. Add a pinch of hing (asafoetida) , pinch of turmeric, 1 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp garam masala powder and saute for a few mins
5. Now add 3 finely chopped tomatoes and saute well. You can cover and cook till the tomatoes are mushy.
6. Now add the boiled peas. You can also mash some 3-4 tsp of boiled peas and add it to add some thickness to the gravy. Add water according to the consistency you want. Bring to a good boil.
7. Serve with finely chopped coriander leaves, finely chopped onion and squeeze some lemon on top
8. Tastes best with pav but you can also add farsan to the usal and eat it just like that.

Hubby loves the Kurma served in the Udupi hotels in Karnataka along with Puri. So tried this recipe from aayisrecipes.com and it tasted as good as the one served in hotels. 

Method
1. Take 2 tsp oil in a pan. Roast 1 tsp coriander seeds, 1 inch cinamon, 4-5 pepper, 2-3 cloves, 4-5 red chillies and 1 tsp fennel seeds. Grind with 1 cup freshly grated coconut to a coarse paste.
2. In the same pan, fry 1 onion finely chopped. Add 1 cup peas, 1 medium sized potato cut into cubes, 1/2 cup of cauliflower florets, 1 tomato cut into cubes, 1/2 cup beans. Add just enough water to cover the vegetables and salt and let it cook to a boil.
3. When almost cooked, add ground masala and salt. Bring it to boil. 

Serve hot with Puris for breakfast. can also be served as a side dish for lunch/dinner.

I think this is one dish invented to mitigate the feeling of guilt of having deep fried puris by giving it a healthy twist 

Method
1. Clean and blanch about 1 cup of Spinach leaves in 1 cup water for less than 5 mins. 
2. Grind the blanched spinach along with the water with 2 green chillies, 1 inch ginger piece, 1 tsp cumin seeds and salt. 
3. Now add wheat flour (atta) and knead in to make a dough. Add enough atta to get a firm dough.


4. Roll into puris and deep fry.

Serve hot with Vegetable Kurma.

Stuffed parathas form an important part of the traditional north indian breakfast. Here I share the authentic recipe of paneer parathas again cooked by Rajneet ;)

Method

1. Knead a soft dough with 2 cups of whole wheat flour and cover it with a wet muslin cloth and set aside for 10 mins.

2. Till then prepare the filling with grated paneer (200 gms).  If paneer is hard thaw it before using and squeeze the excess water. I just crumble the paneer with hands in stead of grating as it is very soft.

3. Finely chop 2 large onions, 2 green chillies, 2 tsp corainder leaves and grate 1 inch piece of ginger and add it to the paneer.

4. Now add 1 tsp red chilly powder, 1 tsp cumin powder, ½ tsp coriander powder, ½ tsp dry mango powder and a pinch of ajwain (optional) and salt. Mix properly and divide this filling into 5 equal parts.

                                     

5. Here for one paratha use almost twice the dough used for making chapatti. Flatten the ball, add little flour and roll it to half the size of chapatti with edges thinner than the centre and apply 2-3 drops of oil esp at the edges.

6. Put one part of the filling in the centre and gather the edges to cover the filling making a larger ball this time.

7. With little flour roll out the paratha uniformly and put it on the hot tava and cook it on medium flame.

8. When one side is completely cooked flip the paratha to cook the other side and apply oil / ghee on both the sides before removing it from the tava.

9. Repeat this procedure to make the remaining parathas and serve it with curd and pickle.

My mom used to cook this dish whenever we had some bread slices left from a previous day. This is a quick breakfast recipe and tastes really good.

Method

1.  Heat 1 tbsp oil and add 1 tsp mustard seeds and  1 tsp cumin seeds.
2.  When they start popping, add 2 twigs of curry leaves
3. Add 1 medium sized onion chopped finely and fry till they turn brownish.
4. Take 5-6 bread pieces and grind the bread pieces in a mixie to a coarse powder and add it.    You can also cut it into roughly one inch pieces and mix well.  
5. Add 1 tsp turmeric, red chilli powder, a pinch of sugar and salt to taste. Mix all the ingredients well so that the bread is coated.
6. Garnish with coriander and freshly grated coconut.

 I am a big fan of Pongal since my MBA days. Pongal used to be served regularly at IIMA along with Medu Vada. It was a combination that I used to look forward to at breakfast. Recently I searched online for quick pongal recipes and found this one which comes very close to what was served on campus.

Method

1.     Wash 2 cups rice and ½ cup Moong Dal (Basically 4:1 proportion)

2.     Now cook the rice and moong dal in a pressure cooker with 7-8 cups of water and 1 tsp of turmeric for 2-3 whistles. The rice needs to be well cooked till soft.

3.     Remove from flame. Add salt to taste

4.     Give a tempering (chaunk) of whole 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 2 twigs of curry leaves and 1inch ginger finely chopped in 2 tbsp of ghee.

5.     Add to the rice mixture and serve.
You can also add ghee - fried cashews if you like.

This is a traditional Konkani recipe and one of my favorite dosas.

We cook this for breakfast but it also tastes very good with traditional Konkani coconut chicken curry. This dish is only easily available in breakfast joints in Karnataka.

Method

1. Soak  1 cup of rice overnight (We use dosa rice but you can use the normal raw rice too – this can also be made with brown boiled rice)
2. Grind with salt and ¾ cup freshly grated coconut the next morning( if you can add malai  or tender coconut , the dosas taste even better). The thinner the batter the better – it is much thinner than the normal dosa batter and the consistency should only be slightly thicker than water.
3. Spread ½ cup of batter on a hot tawa and if possible rotate the tawa so that the batter spreads finely.  Cover and let it cook in the steam for 2 mins. These dosas have to be cooked from only one side.
4. Serve with coconut chutney

For the coconut chutney

Heat 1 tsp oil in a vessel, Add 1 green chilli, 1 pinch of asafoetida  and fry for a minute. Grind this with one cup of freshly desicated coconut and water to a thick chutney consistency.

We also add ½ cup of watermelon whites (the portion below the red edibile part of the watermelon) This gives a nice pinkish texture to the dosa and tastes good.