Maddi or Arvi Ambat

A Konkani Arum or Colocasia coconut Curry - less spicy, easy, simple yet tasty. Maddi in Konkani is just another version of Colocasia root or Arbi or Arvi.

Ingredients:

Arum Root/Taro Root/Colocasia Root - 500 gms

Onion - 1 medium

Grated Coconut - 1 cup

Dry Red Chillies (Byadagi variety) - 8

Coriander seeds - 11/2 tbsp

Turmeric/Haldi - 1/4 tsp

Tamarind - small pebble size

Salt

Oil

How to cook Arbi or Maddi Ambat:

1. Peel the arum and dice it into bite sized pieces. While cutting arum, apply few drops of oil to your hands to avoid itching sensation. Cook the arum pieces in 1 - 2 cups water till soft.

2. Heat about 1 - 2 tsp oil in a pan. Roast the red chillies for 2 - 3 minutes at low flame or till they turn crisp. Keep them aside. Roast the coriander seeds with few drops of oil till they turn slightly brown and aromatic.

3. Grind roasted red chillies, roasted coriander seeds, grated coconut, turmeric and tamarind to a fine paste using water.

4. Chop the onion into big pieces.

5. Heat a pan/skillet and add the ground paste. Add salt, onions and cooked arum. Continue cooking till onions turn soft and you get the desired consistency.

6. Serve Maddi Ambat with steamed rice or roti/chapati or dosa.

Indian Dal / Lentils

Lentils, known as Dal are a staple in an Indian diet, especially vegetarian. For me, dal is comfort food. 5 different dal varieties - Toor, Moong, Chana, Masoor and Urad are commonly used in Indian sweet and savory delicacies. You can cook dal with just one kind or a mix of two or more. I generally cook dal with 1:1 Toor and Moong dals. But then, we like Panchmel or Panchratna Dal too, which is made of all five. Most dal recipes have Toor dal as the primary ingredient. It is also known as Toovar or Arhar dal or Split Pigeon Peas . Some of our family favorite dal recipes are Dalitoy (Konkani Dal) Tadka Dal Among all lentils, moong dal and masoor dal take lesser time to cook. Moong dal is also known as Split Green Gram or Split Mung Bean . Moong dal is also used in making sweet dishes like Mung Dal Kheer Mung Dal Puranpoli Chana dal is also known as Split Bengal Gram or Split Chickpeas . Chana Dal takes a little more time to cook as compared to toor dal....

Naval Kol Bhaji / Kohlrabi Stir-fry

Green Kohlrabi called as Navalkol in Marathi and Navilkosu in Kannada, belongs to the cabbage family. My Mom used to make this stir fry very often. Just like cabbage, this vegetable in available in two colors - green and purple. I was quite hesitant about the purple one, as I haven't seen that back in India. Anyway, I picked the green bulbs and Navalkohl Bhaji with Chana Dal was part of our healthy vegetarian meal today.

Surti Val Papdi Bhaji

My Mom used to make Val Papdi Bhaji in a simple way with few ingredients. This is the first time I gave it a try here in my US kitchen. This stir fry does require little more oil, as no water is added for cooking. Dal Rice tastes great with this sauteed Papdi. I tried this Bhaji once with frozen Surti Papdi and I was not happy with the result. I prefer fresh Papdi for this recipe, which I can only find in the local Indian store. I am not sure if Val Papdi is called as Navy Bean or Fava Bean in English.

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