One Day At A Time

Back home in my Mom's kitchen, every Monday was a Sago special.  My favorite breakfast, since I love both sago and potatoes.  In my kitchen, sago delicacies are part of our weekend brunch, some days Sabudana Khichdi and some days Thaalipeeth.  I am sure you all love the popular Sabudana Wada .  Its my fave too, but deep frying doesn't sound healthy, right?  For calorie conscious foodies, these savory pancakes with the goodness of potatoes are perfect.  These taste similar to Sago Wadas, but with a lot less calories.

Cooking your favorite snacks from scratch is time consuming, yet fun. I love to make chaat items at home. Both chutneys are always ready in my freezer. All I have to do is fry some puris and we get to enjoy homemade Shev Puri.

For quite some time, I used to buy Paneer at a local Indian grocery store. But once I tried making Panir at home, I realized that not only it is easy but also half the price of store bought Paneer. So if you are looking for fresh cottage cheese and to save a few bucks, you must give this recipe a try.

Hey everyone! Hope all is well! My Indian grocery haul is incomplete without okra. Our local store has fresh Bhendi most weekends. This week I made Bhendi Masala with Chapati for our weekday lunch. Ingredients: Okra/Lady's Finger/Bhindi - 350 gm Onion - 1 large Tomatoes - 2 medium Ginger - 1/2 inch piece Coriander Seeds/Dhania - 1 1/2 tbsp Fennel Seeds/Saunf - 1 tsp White Sesame Seeds/Til - 1 tsp Cumin Seeds/Jeera - 1/2 tsp Red Chili Powder/Cayenne Pepper - 1/2 tsp Turmeric/Haldi - 1/4 tsp Aamchur or Chat Masala - 1/4 tsp Salt Oil How to cook Indian Bhindi Masala: Wash okra and pat them dry. Let the okra dry for 4 - 5 hours. Cut the head and tail parts of okra. Dice each one into 2 or 3 pieces. Finely chop onions. Grind coriander seeds, fennel seeds and sesame seeds to a fine powder. Puree the tomatoes and ginger. Heat 2 - 3 tbsp oil in a pan and add diced okra. Sauté okra till they turn slightly brown. Save them for later. In the same pan heat 1 tbsp oil. A...

Earlier I had blogged about Idli Fry . Here is another easy and fast snack made from leftover idlis . In Konkani, we call this as Idli Usli . You might know it as Idli Upma . Ingredients: Idli - 10 small Grated Coconut - about 3/4 cup Green Chilies - 6 Curry Leaves/Kadipata - a sprig Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp Asafetida/Hing - 1/4 tsp Oil preferably Coconut Oil Salt How to make Idli Upma with leftover Idli: Crumble the idlis with hands to a powder. Add salt keeping in mind that idlis do have little salt. Mix and keep it aside.  Wash green chilies, curry leaves. Pat them dry to avoid oil spluttering. Slit the green chilies lengthwise. Heat 2 - 3 tbsp coconut oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, green chilies, curry leaves and asafetida. When mustard seeds pop, add crumbled idlis and grated coconut. Sauté at low flame to mix all the ingredients for about 5 minutes. Simple yet tasty Idly Upma is ready. 

HAPPY MAKAR SANKRANTI!  HAPPY PONGAL!  A Sankranti special sweet rice with lentils. Ingredients: Mung Dal/Split Green Gram - 1/2 cup Raw Rice - 1 cup Grated Coconut (fresh or frozen) - about 3/4 cup Jaggery or Brown Sugar - about 1/2 cup Cashews - 10 Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 5 pods Ghee/Clarified Butter Method: 1. Heat about 2 tbsp ghee in a heavy bottom pan.  Add mung dal (or whole mung bean with skin) and roast at low flame.  Saute till mung dal turns aromatic, about 5 minutes.  Save it for later. 2. Heat about 2 tbsp ghee in the same pan and add rice.  (I used Basmati, you can use your favourite variety of rice.)  Saute till rice turns fragrant, about 5 minutes. 3. In the same vessel, to the roasted rice, add roasted mung dal and 4 - 5 cups water.  Cook till both rice and mung dal turn soft.  Add more water if required. 4. When both rice and dal get cooked, add coconut, b...

Ingredients: Grated Boiled Potato - 1 1/2 cups Corn Meal or Semolina or Bread Crumbs - 1/2 cup Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup Cilantro/Coriander Leaves - about 1/2 cup Green Chillies - 2 Turmeric/Haldi - 1/4 tsp Sugar - 1 tsp Salt Oil Method: 1. Finely chop cilantro and green chillies. 2. Mash or grate the (peeled) boiled potatoes.  Add corn meal, salt, turmeric, green chillies (or red chilli powder) and half of the chopped cilantro.  Add corn meal and mix all the ingredients to form a soft dough.  Add more corn meal if required.  Divide the dough into 6 - 8 balls as per desired size.  3. Stuffing: Mix grated coconut, sugar and other half of the chopped cilantro. 4. Flatten one of the dough balls big enough to hold the stuffing.  Add about 1 tsp of the coconut stuffing in the centre and gather the edges to form a round shape. 5. Deep fry this stuffed ball in hot oil and check if it breaks while frying.  If it breaks...

The easiest of Indian Rice Recipes. Ingredients: Basmati/Long Grain Rice - 1 cup Cumin/Jeera Seeds - 1 tsp Cashews - 4 (optional) Cilantro/Coriander Leaves - few sprigs Bay Leaf - 1 Cloves/Long - 4 Cinnamon/Dalchini - 1/2 inch piece Ghee/Clarified Butter or Oil - 1 tbsp Method: 1. Wash rice 3 - 4 times in water.  Use a colander (or any vessel with holes) to drain the water.  Let it drain for 15 - 20 minutes. 2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pressure cooker.  Add bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon and cumin.  When cumin seeds turn slightly dark, add washed rice and cashew pieces.  Saute rice at low flame for 2 - 3 minutes so that the rice grains are coated with oil. 3. Add salt, 1 1/2 cup water.  Mix and pressure cook the rice till one whistle blows.  Let the pressure drop, about 20 minutes. 4. Mix the cooked rice well.  Garnish with cilantro and serve with a curry or dal fry.  I like Jeera Rice with Shahi Paneer .

Indian Cottage Cheese in a mild creamy gravy of milk and nuts. Ingredients: Paneer/Indian Cottage Cheese Cubes - 250 gms Onion - 1 big (about 1 1/2 cups sliced onions) Green Chillies - 3 Ginger - 1/2 inch piece Garlic - 4 big cloves Cashews - 1/4 cup Almonds - 1/4 cup Milk Cream/Malai or Milk - 1 cup Coriander Seeds - 1 1/2 tbsp Black Peppercorns/Miri - 4 Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 2 pods Bay Leaf - 1 Brown Sugar or Sugar - 1 tsp Salt Oil Method: 1. Soak cashews and almonds in water for 20 - 30 minutes.  I have used almonds with skin.  After soaking the skin comes off easily.  Discard the skin if you want to. 2. Grind coriander seeds, black peppercorns, (peeled) green cardamom to a fine powder.  (You can use store bought powders as well.) 3. Grind roughly chopped onions, green chillies, ginger and garlic to a smooth paste/puree using little water. 4. Grind soaked cashews, almonds and milk cream to a fine paste. 5. Heat 1 - 2 tbsp oil in a pan an...

A Konkani coconut curry with raw mango and an urad methi tempering. Ingredients: Grated Coconut - 3/4 cup Raw Mango/Kairi - 1 small Coriander Seeds/Dhania - 1 tbsp Dry Red Chillies (Byadagi) - 5 Urad Dal/Split Black Gram - 1/8 tsp Fenugreek/Methi Seeds - 1/8 tsp Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp Asafoetida/Hing - 1/4 tsp Turmeric/Haldi - 1/4 tsp Tamarind/Imli/Chinch - small piece Salt Oil Method: 1. Heat about 1 tsp oil in a pan and add coriander seeds, red chillies.  Saute till coriander seeds turn slightly brown and aromatic. 2. Grind coconut, turmeric, tamarind, roasted coriander seeds, red chillies with water to a slightly coarse paste. 3. Heat 1 - 2 tsp oil in a kadhai/wok and add urad dal, fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds, asafoetida.  When mustard seeds pop, add the ground paste, raw mango and salt.  Add water according to the desired consistency. 4. Cook till (sliced) mango flesh turns soft.  5. Serve with hot steamed rice.

Idli is something I can eat all day long. One of my comfort foods. My Mom used to make it especially for me. In most Konkani homes, idlis are made in small steel bowls and a special idli cooker called as Pedawan . Next time when I visit my parents, I'll click some pics for you guys. Here in my kitchen, I use a steel idli cooker with the idli plates. All over Southern India, Idli Chutney Sambar is a well known breakfast item. Let me tell you how my Mom makes it. Ingredients: Raw Rice (Medium Grain) - 1 cup Split Urad Dal/Black Gram - 1/2 cup Salt Oil Pressure Cooker Idli How to cook South Indian Idli: Soak rice and urad dal in plenty of water in separate vessels for 6 - 8 hours. Wash soaked rice and dal well. Add little water at a time and grind urad dal to a smooth fine thick paste. Let the blender/grinder pulse the urad dal paste for another 40 - 60 seconds. This increases the fluffiness of the steamed idlis. Pour the ground urad paste in a big bowl. Next, ad...

A popular Bollywood dessert, Gajar ka Halva.

Ingredients: All Purpose Flour (Maida) - 1 1/2 cup Dessicated (Dry) Coconut - 1 cup Brown Sugar - 1 cup Unsalted Butter - 1/2 pound Almonds and  Pistachios - about 20 White Sesame Seeds/Til - about 1 tsp Baking Soda - 1/8 tsp Baking Powder - 1/8 tsp Cinnamon (Dalchini) or Cardamom (Elaichi) - 1/4 tsp Method: 1. Heat the butter just enough to melt it.  Let it cool a bit, say lukewarm. 2. In a mixing bowl, add melted butter, brown sugar, coconut, almond pistachio (or any other nuts) slices.  Mix well with a spoon or a fork. 3. Now add the dry ingredients - all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon powder.  Mix all the ingredients to form a dough. 4. Make round balls (about 32) of the dough and place them on a baking tray.  Sprinkle few sesame seeds on each dough ball. 5. Preheat the oven at 350 deg. F for about 10 minutes.  Bake the cookies at 350 deg. F for about 12 minutes.  Let the cookies cool for about 5 minute...

Ingredients: Wheat Flour - 4 cups Collard Greens - 300 gm Black Peppercorn/Miri - about 8 Fennel Seeds/Saunf - 1 tsp Sesame Seeds/Til - 1 tsp Garlic - 2 big cloves Ginger - 1/2 inch piece Salt Oil How to cook Indian Poori with Collard Greens: Steam/Blanch the collard green leaves with about 2 tbsp water till they wilt. Let them cool. Grind the blanched collard greens, ginger, garlic, fennel, peppercorn, salt to a fine puree. In a mixing bowl, add wheat flour, sesame seeds and the collard greens puree. Knead into a soft, firm dough. Add about 1 tsp oil and knead the dough well. Let the (covered) dough rest for about 30 minutes. Make small lemon size balls of the dough and roll each one into round puris (5 - 6 inch diameter) either dusting some wheat flour or using oil. Deep fry these puris and serve Collard Greens Puri with ketchup or a curry.