Vali Ambat - Curried Malabar Spinach

Every so often I walk in my little vegetable patch. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a thick bush of climbing Spinach. Now I am part GSB and that part suddenly goes into over drive. I can smell the fragrance of the spicy and sour curried spinach , cooked with this particular variety. This one is a creeper with thick juicy stems. The leaves and stems are coked together , sometimes with shell fish meat or with shrimps. Time to get into action. I gathered an armful and marched down to the kitchen. I had to have it for Lunch. Since konkani food is so simple to cook , its just a matter of assembling the ingredients and off I go .
Here's the easy version of the Vali ( Malabar Spinach greens) Ambat ( Sour curry)

1 cup soaked Toor Dal
2 cups roughly chopped vali bhaji ( stems to be slightly scraped and cut in inch long pieces and added with the chopped leaves)
1 medium onion chopped
1/2 cup fresh coconut
1 tblsp coriander seeds
5-6 byadgi chillies
1 heaped tsp tamarind pulp
1 tsp turmeric powder
Small lump jaggery
Salt to taste
Oil for tempering
4 garlic cloves sliced

In a pressure cooker cook together dal, bhaji, turmeric, onion and salt.
Heat 1 tsp oil and sauté corriander seeds and chilled. Grind together coconut , coriander seeds , chillies and tamarind.
Heat 1 tsp oil and fry garlic. Put in the boiled dal and vegetable and mix well . Add the coconut mixture , adjust salt and add jaggery. Enjoy hot with steamed rice or roti.

Beans and Feta Salad

Summer months completely wreck havoc on the appetite. Yet certain foods , flavours and colours are so tempting. Anything white , cold or raw falls in this category. And if its simple to make , you have a winner on your hands. This simple salad is east , exotic and cool. Make it for your dinner or serve it as a salad with a heavy feast . Its a big hit either way.
250 gms , french beans , cleaned and blanched
50 gms feta cheese
2 medium onions thinly sliced
pepper to taste

Mix together cooled , blanched beans , sliced onions. Crumble the feta cheese and season with pepper. since the feta is extra salty , adjust salt only if required.
Chill and serve either with a cold soup or a hearty meat dish.

Gavhlyachi Kheer

Gavhalyachi Kheer. Its a ancient Maharashtrian delicacy. Gavhale are tiny handrolled bits.
They look like rice grains , but are made using rawa and maida. I was sent these by my Aunt's
daughter in laws family from Belgaum. They make these and vermicelli by hand for personal use.
 I love the effort and the love with which they make and send them.So in short its a labour of love.

The preparation of the kheer is

1/4 cup gavhale ,
 2 cups milk ,
1 tblsp pure ghee,
2 tblsp sugar ,
a large pinch powdered cardamom,
2 tsp finely chopped nuts.

Roast the gavhale in the ghee on a low flame till pinkish in colour.
Add the cardamom powder and hot milk. On low flame cook till the gavhale absorb the milk .
Add sugar and further cook for a couple of minutes till the kheer is well cooked.
Garnish with finely chopped nuts. Can be enjoyed cold or hot. On its own or with Puris/ parathas.

Gavhale

Gavhale texture after cooking.

Amarendra has kindly permitted me to use his recipe to make the gavhale. 

It is indeed a dying skill and some of us are lucky to have had a chance 

to sample this delicacy and continue to enjoy it because of the benovelance of some lovely ladies.

Ingredients :

1/2 cup fine semolina or rawa

1/2 cup maida / flour

1 tsp desi ghee/ brown butter

a pinch of salt

milk

Method: Mix the semolina , salt and flour in a bowl. Add in ghee. using a little milk at a time , knead into a hard dough. Cover with a damp cloth and leave for 2-3 hours. Knead it once Break off a small ball at a time and start rolling it into a long thin roll. As you roll , 

it should start getting a thick twine like shape. At that point start pinching and breaking 

off small pieces like long grain rice. Leave in a draughty place to dry. ( Amarendra suggests that you do not dry it under the sun as it could get an unpleasant smell) Once dry and hard , store in the refrigerator untill needed. 

Credit for recipe for making Gavhale : Amarendra  at http://amusrecipes.blogspot.in/2009/08/gavhle.html#.WCXbWS197IU

THALIPEETH - spiced crisp Indian pancakes.

After the numerous fasting days since Navratri , come the five days of Diwali , which are all about feasting. Starting with Vasubaras , the day we worship the Cows . Next is Dhanteras . A special breakfast on Dhanteras is Thalipeeth. Spiced crisp Pancakes made with a pre spiced flour made from mixed pulses and cereals. It is usually store bought . The fragrant crisp thalipeeth is usually served with homemade white butter anda dry garlic chuteny. Alternately you can serve it with a dip made by mixixng a 1/4 cup of yoghurt and 1/4 tsp red chilli powder ( per portion serving)

2 cups Bhajani Peeth , 2 tblsp oil, 1 large onion finely chopped, 2 green chillies finely chopped , 1 tsp each haldi, red chilli powder, garam masala, dhania powder , crushed jaggery , chopped garlic , salt , 2 tblsp green corriander leaves chopped.Water to bind into a soft wet dough.

Bind the dough till its sticky and soft, Divide into portions the size of a tennis ball .

 Take a wet thin cotton napkin. Using your hands flatten the dough into a round chapatti , but thicker than a chapati. Poke 3-4 holes into it .

 Remove from the cloth and put onto a hot tawa or frying pan .

Put a few drops of oil into the holes and around the thalipeeth.

Cook covered on both sides for 5-7 minutes , on low flame.Then brown the 2 sides on a high flame. Serve with fresh butter and lasoon chutney. If making for guests , cook on low flame and keep aside. Then you can just apply a little oil and make the thalipeeth crisp just before serving.

Badam Phirni

Every once in a while , the sweet cravings kick in . Sometimes you have the privilege of time and leisure to indulge in it. Or sometimes a quick stroll down 2 blocks brings you to a street with 3 Mithai Stores ( Yayyyyyy) . But sometimes a lovely sweet treat is just at hand. You have soaked some rice for dinner and are in the kitchen for another 15 minutes. All you need is to sneak out a bit of the soaked rice and get to work. This simple yet delectable sweet is so easy to make.

B for Badam Phirni.
1 litre milk
1/4 cup raw rice
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
12 pieces almonds , blanched and coarsely crushed.
1 pinch of kesar

Wash and soak the rice for an hour. Then drain and
allow to dry slightly. Using 1/2 cup water grind the
rice to a coarse paste. In a heavy bottomed pan ,
Bring the milk to a boil. Add the wet rice paste to the milk ,
lower heat and cook for about 15 minutes , stirring frequently
so that the rice doesnt form lumps ans stick to the bottom of the pan.
Add sugar and cardamom powder . Cook till the rice is soft and mushy.
Add the crushed almonds , and take off the heat.

Crush or soak the kesar in 2 spoons of hot milk. Add to the phirni.
Serve hot or cold .

P.S: I have been rescued once at a dinner party , where till 6.30 I had not figured out what I was going to serve for pudding. A nick into the soaking rice , came up with a cupful , ground and into some boiling milk. Voila. There was a dessert , just around the corner!

Crunchy Stir Fry

Light Fragrant Oriental vegetable preparations are always preferred for dinner. We mix and match fresh vegetables which we pick on our way back from work. The kids too enjoy this process and end up chipping into cooking dinner. Water chestnuts , when is season are consumed by the kilo at home. Sometimes , we'll sneak them into soups and momos , but this is a bold and beautiful dish dominated by fresh water chestnuts and supported by other greens .


100 gms peeled fresh and tender water chestnuts ( Sliced or chopped into chunks)
6-8 leaves of Bok Choy
1 small zucchini sliced
1 cup coarsely chopped Chinese cabbage
1/2 cup bean sprouts ( Optional)
1 tblsp each julienned ginger and garlic
3 dried red chillies
salt , pepper to taste
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tblsp Sesame Oil


Heat the oil . Toss in ginger then garlic and dry red chillies. Add the vegetables and toss on high heat for 2 minutes. Add in the salt , pepper, sugar and soy sauce. Mix well and serve. The vegetables should still be firm and crunchy. Enjoy on its own or with vegetable / chicken tossed hakka noodles.

Cold Ruby Soup

It's a cold soup. It's also almost raw ! Well at least 2 of the 3 key ingredients are raw. Summer days bring in much exhaustion and a general loss of appetite. Fluids are downed by the litres. But soup is one thing we don't want to drink. However an easy and refreshing solution to that is cold soups.
I am constantly updating my repertoire with more season specific dishes using seasonal produce , as much as possible.
Tried this soup. Tasted gorgeous cold and the hubby , with his conservative tastes , enjoyed it hot.
Just 3 main ingredients , serves 4

1 cup finely grated carrot
1/2 cup baked beans with the tomato sauce it is canned in.
2 large , firm , red tomatoes peeled and development seeded.
Salt , pepper , tobacco sauce to taste.

Puree the vegetables along with the beans. Thin down the soup to your preferred consistency. Season with salt , pepper and a dash of tabasco sauce.

If you prefer it cold , just boil it on a low flame for about 3-5 minutes.

Serve it with a crisp salad and cold meats , or with crusty bread and an olive oil +balsamic vinegar dip.

Quinoa Kebabs

So we hear about these super foods and wonder how they taste and what could we do with them and how can we incorporate them into our daily meals. So one such superfoods is Quinoa. And I've been cooking with it regularly. Cook it like a pulao , or upma, grind boiled quinoa and make it like a dosa. This is a quick n easy snack and Oh So Simple....

1/4 cup quinoa, 1/4 cup bread crumbs, 1/4 cup finely chopped boiled spinach, 2 onions finely chopped, 1 tblsp chopped garlic, 2 tblsp grated cheese, 1 egg whisked, 2 tblsp olive oil , salt and pepper to taste. 
Cook the quinoa till soft. Heat 1 tblsp olive oil , saute the onion and garlic till brown. Mix in the egg, spinach, cheese, and breadcrumbs and the onion garlic . Season with salt and pepper. Shape into kebabs . Heat a non stick pan, brush with olive oil. Brown the kebabs on both sides. Serve hot.

Beetroot Tomato and Carrot Soup

Long winter evenings. The family gathers. There is an overload of parties and get togethers. Over worked digestive system is crying for reprieve. Just the kind of situation to bring in this gorgeous delight. Its healthy , easy to cook and is totally non fussy. This one is from my sister in Law , Amita's kitchen. My niece Tanya had lovingly served me this with a generous blob of butter. It was love at first sip. I'm sure you will enjoy this as much as I did.

Peel and chop 4 red tomatoes, 2 small beetroot and 2 medium carrots.Remove the seeds from the tomato. Peel and grate 1/2 " PC of ginger. Cook all the vegetables and ginger till soft . Grind in a mixie till smooth. Do not strain. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with a small blob of butter. Or just a spoonful of cream is just as good, If you are calorie conscious , then hold the butter / cream.

Custard Apple Ice Cream

Festivals are my favourite time of the year. The family gathers, the house is buzzing. Titters, whispers, whining, guffaws, screeching.....all such welcome sounds. Yet the  one time silence is good is when everyone gathers at the dinner table.  All of us are certified sugar monsters. However satisfying the meal may have been, without dessert , its never enough. New desserts are expected and I mange to throw a surprise every once in a while. That this particular dish to make was so easy, took me by surprise. And this one is EASY. literally 1-2 3 easy . Here goes

1 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 cups double cream or cream from boiled milk ( its devon cream/ clotted cream)
3 cups Custard apple pulp

Put the custard apple pulp through the blender , just giving it a couple of quick whisks , so that the pulp is still coarse. Mix in the cream and the condensed milk. Freeze overnight. READY!!