Palak Chana Dal

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

Spinach/ Palak (chopped) - 2cups
Soaked chana dal (split bengal gram) - 1cup
Turmeric - 1tsp
Cumin seeds - 1tsp
Green chili paste - 1tsp
Ginger-garlic paste - 1tsp
Chopped onions - 3/4 cup
Chilli powder - 1tsp
Garam masala - 1tsp
salt to taste
ghee as per required

Method

• Blanch the  chopped spinach and keep aside.
• Soak the dal for 2 hours, add the salt and turmeric powder, mix well and pressure cook for 2 whistle or till done.
• Heat the ghee in a kadai, add the cumin seeds.
• When the seeds splutter add the green chili paste, ginger-garlic paste and saute for a minute.
• Add the onions, and saute till it turns to golden brown in colour.
• Add the spinach , chilli powder, cooked dal, water as per required, garam masala, salt, mix well and simmer for 5-8 minutes.
• Serve hot with rice/rotis

Amti (light and tasty Dal)

Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins


Ingredients
Toor Dal - 1 cup
Goda masala - 1 tsp
(this is a common and essential masala in any maharashtrian household...if you do not have this you can use normal garam masala and add a mixture of grounded sesame seeds and dry coconut (1:1)
Tamarind pulp - 1tsp
Tomato (diced) - 1
Freshly grated coconut - 2 tbsp
Freshly chopped coriander - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Jaggery to taste (a must since you are adding tamarind)

For tempering
2 tbsp oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1/3 tsp turmeric
a pinch of asafoetida
1/4 tsp fenugreek/methi seeds (optional)
3 green chilies-chopped

Preparation

• Boil the toor dal in the pressure cooker. Blend it lightly and set aside
•  Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds and when they pop, add the fenugreek seeds, turmeric, asafoetida and chilies.
• Saute for 3 minutes till the tomato is tender and add the boiled dal.
•  Add 4 cups of water or more as required (the consistency of the dal should be very thin- a little thicker than rasam)
•  Add the rest of the ingredients except the coconut and coriander and continue to boil for 10 minutes.
• Garnish with coriander and coconut and serve with rice and chapatis.

Batata vada- Vada Pav

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
Potatoes (large) - 2
Onion (large) - 1
Green chilies - 3
Ginger - 1/2 inch stick
Coriander(chopped) - 2 tbsp
Garlic (chopped) - 3 cloves
Salt to taste
Sugar - 1/4 tsp
For batter:
Besan (Gram flour) - 1 cup
Turmeric - a pinch
Asafoetida - a pinch
Baking soda - a pinch
Salt to taste
Chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
Water - 1cup
Oil for frying

Method

• Boil, peel and mash potatoes.
• Saute the onion until soft
• Mix potatoes,onion and all the other ingredients into a dough.
• Roll them in to 1 inch balls and set aside.
• Mix  Besan, turmeric and all the batter ingredients with 2 tsp of very hot oil and later make in to a thick batter with sufficient water
• Heat oil in a wok, dip the potato balls in the batter and deep fry.
• Serve sizzling hot with any chutney sweet/tangy/hot  and Pav

Capsicum Rice (Capsicum Masale Bhath)

Preparation time: 15 mins

Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients

Basmati Rice/ Normal Rice - 1 Cup

Medium sized Capsicum (Finely chopped) - 2

Medium sized Onion (finely chopped) - 1 (optional)

Medium sized Tomato (finely chopped) - 1

Ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp

Green Chilies (finely chopped) - 2

Garam Masala/ Sabji Masala - 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves - to garnish

seasoning

Oil/ghee - 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida(hing) - pinch

Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

Cashew - 1 tsp (optional) 

Preparation

• Cook basmati rice in 2 cups of water. The grains should be separate. Set aside. 
• Heat oil/ghee in a pan.Add mustard seeds, Asafoetida and cumin seeds  
• When mustard seeds crackle, add ginger garlic paste, chopped green chilies,onion capsicum. Sprinkle salt and turmeric powder.
• Saute till capsicum turns soft.Add the garam masala and mix well.
• Gently add rice to the pan  and mix thoroughly.
• Add salt and garnish with roasted cashew nuts coriander leaves.
• Have it with raitha or papad.

Vatana chi missal

Preparation time: 25 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

Vatana (dried  peas) - 2 cups

Onion (finely chopped) - 1 big

Tomato (finely chopped) - 2

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Ginger-garlic paste - 2 tsp

Green chilli paste- 1/2 tsp

Tamarind paste - 2 tsp

Garam masala - 2tsp

Coriander (finely chopped) - 1/4 cup

Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Chaat masala - 1/2 tsp

Oil- 1 1/2 tbsp

Preparation Method

• Soak 2 cups of dried peas overnight in water.
• Pressure cook peas with very little water, salt & turmeric.
• Heat the oil and put mustard seeds
• Add ginger-garlic,green chili paste chopped onions and saute for 3 mins till the onions become translucent.
• Now add chopped tomatoes, tamarind paste, Garam masala, chilli powder and cook till the tomatoes go tender.
• Add cooked peas and 2 cups water.
• Cook uncovered on a low flame for 10 mins and remove from heat
• Garnish with chopped coriander 

Note: The beauty of the dish is it can be served with Rice, Roti, Pav, or can just be consumed  as it is topped with farsand (Namkeen mixture/chivda)

Gharge:Laal Bhoplyachi Puri (Sweet Pumpkin Puri)

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
Laal Bhopla/Red Pumpkin( peeled and grated) - 2 cups
Jaggery (grated) - 1 cup
Wheat flour - 1/2 cup
Sooji/Semolina - 1/2 cup
Ghee- 2 tsp
Oil to fry

Preparation

• Peel and then grate the Pumpkin and Jaggery. Keep aside. 
• Now in a kadhai/pan combine the grated pumpkin and jaggery and cook together. 
• Once the the mixture comes together and the pumpkin is cooked add 1 tsp of ghee to it. 
• Remove from the heat and then mix in the wheat flour and rawa to the pumpkin mixture till everything comes together like a dough.
•  The dough should not be too tight nor too elastic. 

Note: The wheat flour and sooji have to be in 1:1 ratio. 

• Let the dough cool. Once cooled roll the dough in to 1 inch balls
• Take the inch dough on a plastic sheet(grease the sheet and your palms with ghee) and pat it into a small puri with your hand. 
• Heat the oil and then fry the puri until golden brown. 
• Drain the these on a tissue paper.
• Serve them hot.

Note: Gharge can be consumed hot or can be stored in an air tight container for days at room temperature

Sabudana Khichadi

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients

Sabudana (sago) - 2 cups
Medium potatoes - 2 (diced)
Green chilies (finely chopped)- 4
Peanut powder - 1/2 cup
(Roast the peanuts, peel the skin and grind the peanuts in to a coarse powder)
Sugar- 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Grated coconut - 1 tbsp (optional)
Coriander leaves for garnish (optional)
Ghee - 2 tbsp

Preparation

• Wash thoroughly and soak sabudana overnight in water ( water and sabudana ratio is 1:2)
• Heat ghee in a nonstick kadai/pan.
• Add cumin seeds, green chilies and diced potato.
• When potatoes turn tender, add sabudana, salt and sugar. Stir well (if using boiled potatoes, sauté them quickly in the ghee before adding the sabudana to it).
• Cook uncovered for sometime and keep mixing to keep sabudana from sticking to the bottom.
• Once the sabudana is cooked, add the peanut powder and mix well
• Khichdi is done when the sabudana no more tastes raw. Remove and garnish with coconut and coriander leaves. Serve hot with yogurt.

Chavli chi Usal (Black eyed peas masala)

Preparation time : 20 mins
Cooking time 20 mins

Ingredients

Chavli/ black eyed peas(bobbarlu) - 1cup
Medium onion (finely chopped) - 1
Tomato (finely chopped) - 1
Dry coconut (grated) - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves - 4 to 5
Chopped garlic- 1 tsp
Chopped Coriander - 1 tbsp
Goda masala/ kitchen king masala(any masala of your choice) - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tbsp

Preparation

• Soak chavli overnight or in warm water for 2-3 hours.
• Pressure cook with 2 cups of water and salt for 2-3 whistles.
•  Grind coconut and garlic, keep aside.
• Heat kadhai with oil. Add mustard and cumin seeds, let them splutter. Add asafoetida and curry leaves. Now add chopped onion and saute for 2-3 min. 
• Add coconut-garlic powder to it. Sauteing continuously, add chopped tomatoes and let cook until gets tender.
•  Now add turmeric and masala. Mix well and then add cooked chavli. 
• Add the water from pressure cooker according to consistency you want. 
• Check for salt. Bring to boil and garnish with chopped coriander.
• Serve hot with chapati, rice.

Gud ki Roti

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients 
for the stuffing

Jaggery (grated) - 2 cups
White Sesame Seeds (roasted) - 1/2 cup
Poppy seeds (roasted) - 1/4 cup
Dry grated Coconut (roasted) - 1/4 cup
Besan- 1/4 cup
Ghee- 2 tbsp
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Pinch of Nutmeg Powder/Jaifal powder (Optional)

for the dough

Wheat Flour - 1 cup
All-Porpose Flour/Maida - 1 cup
Besan - 2 tbsp
Oil - 3 tbsp
Pinch of Salt
Milk (can substitute with water) - 1 cup

Preparation Method

• Sieve and mix all the flours .Add Salt according to taste.Heat the oil and add it to the flour.
• The oil should be sizzling hot .Then mix it nicely. Make a soft dough adding milk / water little at a time.
• Knead the dough well for 5 mins.The dough should be medium soft.Cover it with a plastic wrap/cling film/muslin cloth.Let the dough rest for atleast 1 hour.
• For filing, grate the jaggery.
• Heat Ghee in a pan add Besan and roast it. Add Ghee as required little at a time.Keep stirring continuously.Roast on low heat till it changes its colour. It will take about 6-7 minutes.Then switch off heat and keep it aside. Let it cool completely.
•  Roast sesame seeds, poppy seeds and coconut one by one and keep them aside.
• Grind the poppy seeds, sesame seeds and coconut to powder.
• Mix the powder, Besan and jaggery together grind this mixture till they are well combined.
• Add the cardamom and  nutmeg powder to this and mix well. Make 10-12 balls for filling.
• Make equal portions of dough. Sprinkle some all purpose flour on rolling board. 
• Roll the dough to the size of puri. Place a ball of tilgul filling in the center close it by covering the edges at top so that the fiiling will not come out. R
• oll it till it become normal roti size.
• Heat the tava put some ghee. Roast the roti  both the sides using on medium flame till it turns golden brown. 
•  Serve hot  with ghee

Tilgul/ Nuvvula laddu

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes


Ingredients
White sesame seeds - 3 cups
Jaggery  - 1 1/2 cups
(usually jaggery required for Tilgul is stickier than the normal one and called 'chikkicha gul' in Marathi. ),
1/4 cup peanuts
cardamoms
Ghee: 1 tbsp

Preparation

• Roast sesame seeds over medium heat. When they turn slight golden, remove and keep aside
• .Roast peanuts, remove the skin and powder them.
• In a clean heavy-bottomed, nonstick pan, heat jaggery over medium heat. 
• Add 1 teaspoon ghee into it. After some time, it starts bubbling up and changes to light red. Pour sesame seeds, peanuts and cardamom powder immediately and mix well.
•  This mixture is little sticky and thick.Rub some ghee to the palm of your hands.
•  When the mixture is still hot, take some in your palm. Roll into 1 inch diameter ball. If the mixture gets cold, heat again to make the rolling easier.
•  Make all the laddus and let them cool. They turn hard and crisp once cool. Store in an airtight container. 

Tip: Increase the amount of jaggery if it is less sweet.