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.

Another tasty evening snacks recipe that I like.

Method

1. Soak 1 cup  urad dal in water for 3 to 4 hours.
2. Wash and drain the urad dal and grind it to a smooth paste in a blender.
3. Add a pinch of cooking soda  and salt to the urad dal paste and mix well till the batter is light and fluffy. Add 2 tsp each of finely chopped ginger , green chillies, curry leaves and coconut. You can also add ginger, chillies to the urad dal while grinding it but I like the crunchiness and hence don’t grind them.
4. Take oil in a kadhai for deep frying. Wet your hands with water and take around 1 tbsp of the batter and shape it into a circle and drop them into the hot oil. Cook the vadas on a slow flame till they are golden brown. This should take 7-8 mins for each batch.


5. Drain on absorbent paper and keep aside. The vadas can be served with chutney as an evening snack. We call it biscuit ambado in Konkani.
6. Soak the vadas in warm water for 10-15 mins. Take 2 cups curd, whisk it. Add salt, pinch of sugar, cumin powder, rock salt, chilli powder, and amchur powder according to taste.
7. Remove the vadas from water and squeeze out the water and add it to the curd.
8. Garnish with finely chopped coriander and serve.     

This is one of my favourite roadside chats which I miss a lot here in Hyderabad. Hence I decided to try this recipe out. The potato and the white peas make it so filling that it is almost a complete meal in itself.



Method

For the Patties

1. Boil and mash 3 potatoes. Add 1 cup of bread crumbs, 1tbsp ginger garlic paste, 1tsp each of turmeric, coriander powder, jeera powder, chaat masala and garam masala
2. Add the salt according to taste.
3. Make patties from the mixture and shallow fry on a pan on slow flame.

For the Ragda

1. Overnight soak 1 cup of dried white peas. Add 3 cups water a pinch of haldi and cooking soda and pressure cook for 3 whistles or until the peas are soft.
2. Add 1tbsp of oil in a pan. Add 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste, pinch of  hing (asafoetida)
3. Add 2 medium sized onions chopped finely. Once brown add 1 tsp red chilli powder, haldi powder and 1 tsp garam masala and salt. Sauté and once the masalas have left their raw taste.
4. Add 1 finely chopped tomato. Add 1 green chilli finely chopped.
5. Add cooked peas and add 2cups of water and let it come to a boil. 

Serve with tamarind and green mint chutney. Add finely chopped onions and coriander leaves.

Recently I was part of a chain mail series with a difference. A friend emailed me about a recipe Exchange program where you email recipes back to the sender and then send the same email to your friends asking them for quick recipes.
My dear friend Nisha sent me this recipe. Though I like potato wedges a lot, I had somehow never ventured to cook it as I always thought that it needs an oven. I really liked this recipe. Quick and yummy.

Method

1. Slice potatoes into slim wedges (leave the skin on for extra crunchiness. Place in water for 10 mins to get rid of excess starch, drain and leave to dry
2. Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan to medium heat. Add 1 tsp of jeera and around 1 twig of curry leaves
3. Add 1 tsp each of coriander powder and chilli powder and a pinch of turmeric powder and cook it but don’t allow it to burn
4. Add the potatoes before the masala burns out and add salt. Cover with a lid and let the potatoes cook on a small flame to about 75%
5. Add 1 tbsp seasame seeds and cook without lid. Add 1 tsp garam masala when the potatoes are fully cooked
6. Spike the heat up to crispen the potatoes (dont burn ;))
7. You can choose to garnish with Coriander leaves 

This recipe is ideal for a quick snack. You can replace the Indian spices with chilli flakes, pepper and some oregano.

Harbhara is a vegetable which is available only in the winters. The process of removing the shells of the pea itself takes time but there is some fun in searching for the peas and then deshelling and eating them. Though the seeds cab be eaten just like that, my mom used to make this for us which I used to like more than raw chickpeas. This is too simple a dish to write about but tastes yummy

1. Take 2 tbsp ghee/oil in a pan. When hot, add harbhara (green chickpeas) and sauté till slightly brown. Add salt to taste

The ghee gives the dish a richness which lingers on.

This is how Harbhara looks when removed from stems

And this is how it looks after cooking

Jackfruit (Phanas in Konkani) is one key ingredient in Konkani Cooking. Raw jackfruit (Kadgi in konkani, kathal in hindi) is cooked with a lot of different pulses in our curries. The seed of jackfruit is dried and stored and again added to pulse gravies. But my favourite is the sweet ripe jackfruit pods. I can never have enough of this. I also like to cook these jackfruit fritters and store them in the refrigerator so that I can eat the jackfruits for a longer time. We get these ripe jackfruit in summers and then in the early rainy season.

1. Grind around ripe 20 Jackfruits pods in a mixie to get a coarse paste. Add 2 tbsp Rava (Semolina), 2 tbsp Coconut grated.
2. Add salt according to taste. Add jaggery in case the dough is not sweet enough. Make it into a cake dough like consistency.
3. Heat oil in a kadhai. Make small balls of the dough and deep fry. Cook on low flame for the jackfruits to cook thoroughly. Traditionally we do not add any water in this dough. However if you find it difficult to make the balls, you can sprinkle a little bit of water. Also you can dip your fingers in water before making the balls so that they don’t stick to your hand.
4. When the fritters are brown on the outside, remove them on a tissue paper and serve hot.
5. One can also store these for 4-5 days in the refrigerator

The jackfruit fritters in the picture is slightly browner than golden because of jaggery.

I like to keep the jackfruits coarse and don’t overgrind it as I like to bite into the jackfruit while eating the mulik. Sometimes I add freshly cut jackfruit pieces into the batter just for the extra texture.

This is one of my favorite snacks. A very popular dish in Maharshtra.

 Method

1. Chop 2 bunches of coriander leaves
2. In a mixing bowl, take 1 cup of Besan (Gram flour), ¼ cup wheat flour, 2 tbsp rice flour and mix
3. Add 2 green chillies finely chopped, 1tbsp Ginger and garlic paste
4. Add ½ cup of jiggery, 1 tbsp red chilli powder, 1 tsp coriander powder, juice of 1 lemon
5. Add a generous pinch of asafoetida, 1 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp garam masala powder and salt to taste
6. Add 1 pinch of cooking soda and coriander. Add enough water to give it a paste like consistency. Adjust the salt and sweetness.
7. Take a steel plate (around 1/2 inch in depth) and coat it with oil. Pour the above mixture to form a ½ inch layer. If you have more batter make a second batch. Sprinkle white till seeds on top
8. Steam for 20-25 mins in a steamer.
9. The wadis are done when a fork stuck to the batter comes out clean.
10. Remove the wadis from plate and cut them into squares. You can serve this dish just like this as its healthier this way.
11. You can also shallow fry with a little oil on tawa or deep fry in oil to crispy brown and serve.