Month: October 2010

When you grow up in Mumbai there are 2 things that become your absolute favourites – Vada Paav and Misal. If a person claims to be a true Mumbaiite and has not heard about these two items, be rest assured he/she will get condescending looks from the rest!

 If you wish to have the best Misal in Mumbai you must visit the Dadar area and head over to “Prakash” or “Aaswad” hotels in Shivaji Park area. They have been there for ages and are the typical Maharashtrian food joints you must visit to enjoy the authentic taste. But if you are not able to visit these places, do visit Sango’s Kitchen in Dubai or my mom’s home in Worli, just give 2 days advance notice please.

Misal originated from the other side of the Sahayadri Mountains, famously known as the “GHAT” or “DESH”. My mom’s side is from the Ghats while my papa’s family is from the Konkan side. My grandmother, an excellent cook herself passed on this amazing recipe to her daughter which has come to me. So here goes the next one in the list of “patented” recipes :

Misal Paav
Following combination serves 4 plates (I cannot say 4 people because it depends on how many plates one can have:-))

a) Matki Usal
Ingredients:

• Matki  – 1 cup soaked
• Green Chillies – 2-3 finely chopped
• Mustard Seeds – 1 tea spoon
• Asafoetida – 1/2 tea spoon
• Onion – 1 medium-sized finely chopped
• Ginger-Garlic Paste – 1 tea spoon
• Turmeric Powder – 1 tea spoon
• Red Chilly Powder – 2-3 table spoons
• Salt – To Taste
• Tamarind-Jaggery Mix – 1-2 table spoons
• Goda Masala – ! table spoon
• Coriander Leaves – finely chopped
• Lemon

Method:

Soak one cup matki pulse to sprout. Matki takes atleast 2 days to sprout well. Soak overnight in water. Then remove all the water, wrap it in a cloth and leave it in refrigerator for one more day, even if you leave it in a vessel it will sprout.

Heat oil – 2 tb sp in a pressure pan. Add mustard seeds and asafoetida. Add 2-3 finely chopped green chillies. Stir for 1-2 minutes. Add the onion. Once the onion turns light brown add turmeric powder and ginger-garlic paste. Stir well for 2-3 minutes. Add red chilly powder. Add salt to taste. Boil the mixture in a pressure pan until 2 whistles. Let it cool then add ‘goda masala’. (This is readily available in all shops in mumbai, if not search for “misal masala” in any Indian store and that will do to)
Boil the mixture and add the tamarind-jaggery water (Soak tamarind and jaggery in 2-3 tablespoons of water for 10-15 mins)
Bring to boil for 5 mins. Matki usal is ready

b) Potato Vegetable

Ingredients:

• Potatoes – 3 medium sized
• Mustard seeds – 1 tea spoon
• Asafoetida – , ½ tea sp.
• Curry leaves – 5-6
• Green Chillies – 3-4 finely chopped
• Turmeric Powder – 1 tea spoon
• Salt – To taste

 Method:
Boil the potatoes. Heat oil in kadhai/vessel. Add mustard seeds, asafoetida, curry leaves, green chillies and turmeric powder. Cut the boiled potatoes in small pieces and add to the above seasoning in the kadhai. Add salt to taste, sugar and lemon juice. Stir well till it cooks.

c) Farsan
Pick a packet that is readily available in all stores.

d)Misal
Take a plate, first place the potato vegetable , then add the matki usal to it, then add the farsan (as much as you like), add chopped onions, chopped coriander leaves, and add little lemon. Serve hot. You may also eat this along with same bun bread as the one used for vada paav or have it plain. You can also have it with curd and then it is known as “Dahi Misal”

Enjoy and do let me know how it turns out!

Have you ever given it a thought that mothers ought to be given the award for being the best inventors. The reason is the food items they come up with so as to ensure their kids have some novelty to look forward to in their meal items every time. Tough task on hand but they make it look so easy. 

I loved restaurant food as a kid and was very finicky at home with regards to my eating habits. How my mom managed to please me every time with homemade stuff only she knows and which is why in my books she is a genius.

Tandalachi Bhakri was presented as Butter Naan; I hated leafy vegetables so off they went into cutlets and parathas. I get bored easily, so chicken curries underwent a million modifications to make them look different everytime. Phew! Thanks to her I’ll be better prepared if my little one turns out as finicky as I was!

I will share her “patented” recipes through this section. Let’s begin with a quick single.

Bread is a must have item in our kitchens –especially for women who start their cooking heroics after marriage or are too tired to make the effort to make rotis (I’m tired all the time). Not the best substitute for rotis but we can live with it. Bread is also a relief when deciding breakfast items – quick sandwiches make the best breakfast when you have come dead tired the previous night!
But how often have you got bored with the routine bread stuff and wished you could innovate with it and make a tasty quick dish. Presenting my mom’s bread poha

.
Ingredients:
8-10 Slices of bread
1 tomato medium-sized
1 onion medium-sized
6-7 curry leaves
2-3 green chillies
Mustard Seeds – 1 tea spoon
Cumin Seeds – 1 tea spoon
Asafoetida – 1/4 th tea spoon
Turmeric powder – 1 tes spoon
Salt – To taste
Sugar – 1/2 tea spoon
Lemon Juice – 1 tea spoon
Oil – 1 table spoon
Coriander Leaves – 6-7 sticks

Method:
Heat oil in a pan , add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafoetida and finely chopped onion. Sauté well till light brown, add finely chopped tomato and sauté till the tomato cooks well, add finely chopped green chillies, curry leaves,turmeric powder, sugar, salt and lemon juice. Add a couple of tablespoons of water to mix the masala well.
Chop the bread slices into small pieces. You can just break the slices into pieces by hand no need to use a knife. Add these uneven pieces to the above masala and mix well.
Stir well for 3-4 mins and then garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.
A yummy breakfast is ready in 10-12 mins max!

I have often mentioned on this blog that I love cooking but hate spending too much time in the kitchen. This was ingrained in me since childhood as I observed my mother – a working woman and a fantastic cook. So through this space  will share some quick fix recipes for snacks and main course.

We all rave about everything homemade – spend time and effort in getting things right when some of them might be readily available in the market and could save you truckloads of time in the kitchen. My mother is not too fond of food items in stores but she is also a practical woman. She does not shy away from trying the new instant world that is hitting our generation. If the items available are of good quality from reliable source and could save her time in the kitchen, she will definitely give it a shot. The two things she has got used to is readymade Idli-Dosa Dough and Thalipith Bhajni. I share her quick recipe for thalipith.

(Image courtsey: http://www.indianetzone.com/17/thalipith.htm)

Ask any Maharastrian about thalipit and I guarantee that their mouth will water at the mere mention of that word. Not only is it a tasty dish but it is an extremely healthy one too. The Bhajni or flour is a mixture of different flours-  rice, wheat,bajra,besan and ground pulses.

This fine mixture is readily available in stores and I suggest you pick yours from Sarvodaya stores on Ranade Road in Dadar,Mumbai. I carry 6-7 250 gm packets on my bi-annual trips from India that suffice me for 3-4 months till then next lot arrives. So here goes the recipe for this awesome quick snack – serves as tea-time snack or a nice healthy breakfast.

Ingredients:

Talipith Bhajni -  250 gms
Green chillies  – 3-4
Onion – 1 medium size
Salt – To taste
Red chilly powder – 1 tea spoon
Coriander leaves – 10-12 stalks
Turmeric – ½ tea spoon

If you wish to make it more healthy – you can add methi/palak/carrot shredded/cabbage shredded etc

Method:

Add the following ingredients to the Bhajni- Green chillies finely chopped, Turmeric powder, Onion finely chopped, Salt, Red Chilly powder, Coriander leaves finely chopped.
Add water to the mixture and knead the dough like chapatti – but keep the mixture moist.
Take a pan – apply drop of oil and pat the ball of the mixture flat with your palm- giving round shape like a roti. Pour little oil from the sides, keep it on medium flame and let it cook till it becomes light brown – then flip the side and cook it for 3-4 mins till the other side  turns light brown. To make the second one – take the pan and turn it reverse and hold the bottom of the pan under cold water. The pan will cool down immediately and you can repeat the above process again. Add ghee/ butter on the Thalipith and serve with curd.

My mom makes the pancake on a piece of muslin cloth and slides it delicately onto the pan – I could never manage that – hence figured out the above way thanks to a friend. Those who are artistically challenged as I’m can go my way; the rest are welcome to use my mom’s method.