One Day At A Time

This is what my Mom used to make for us, on a hot summer afternoon.  Muskmelon or Cantaloupe Juice with fresh coconut milk, called as Chibda Ros  in Konkani.  An Indian Muskmelon, called as Kharbuja in Hindi, Tarbuj  in Marathi and Chibad in Konkani, looks slightly different than an American Cantaloupe, but tastes just the same.

Tadka Dal is a Dal tempered with onions, tomatoes and a few spices.  For Dal Fry, you can use a combination of protein rich dals like mung dal, urad dal, toor dal or just any one.  You can use this recipe for leftover dal as well. Ingredients: Toor Dal/Yellow Pigeon Peas - 1/4 cup Mung dal/Green Gram - 1/4 cup Onion - 1 medium Ginger - 1/2 inch piece Garlic - 5 cloves Tomato - 1 medium Green Chillies - 4 Dry Red Chillies - 2 Turmeric/Haldi - 1/4 tsp Cumin/Jeera Seeds - 1 tsp Curry Leaves/Kadipata - a sprig Cilantro/Coriander Leaves - few sprigs Oil or Butter - 1 tbsp Jaggery or Molasses or Sugar - 1/2 tsp (optional) Salt Method: 1. Wash the dals and cook the dals with about 3 cups water till soft.  I used a pressure cooker. 2. Finely chop onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and cilantro leaves.  Pat the curry leaves dry.  Slit the green chillies lengthwise. 3. Heat oil in a kadhai/wok and add cumin ...

A simple, less spicy Green Peas Pulav/Pilaf. Ingredients: Basmati Rice - 1 cup Green Peas/Matar - 1 cup Black Peppercorns/Miri - 10 Cinnamon/Dalchini - 1 inch piece Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 2 pods Cloves/Lavang - 5 Bay Leaf/Tamalpatra/Tejpata - 1 Cashews/Kaju - 8 Oil or Butter Salt How to cook simple Matar Pulav: Wash rice 3 - 4 times with water. Keep washed rice in a colander (or any vessel with holes) to drain water, about 15 minutes. Heat 1 - 2 tbsp butter or oil in a pressure cooker. Add peppercorns, bay leaf, cloves, cardamom pods, cashews and cinnamon. Sauté for a minute. Add washed rice and green peas. At this point, you can add 1/4 tsp biryani masala or pulav masala as well.  Sauté for 2 - 3 min and then add 2 cups water. Add about 1/2 tsp salt, mix well. Pressure cook till one whistle blows. Let the pressure go down naturally, 15 - 20 minutes. Mix gently and serve Peas Pulav with Dal Fry .

Prawns/Shrimps though biologically different species, commercially mean the same.  Ingredients: Prawns/Shrimps - 500 gms Red Chilli Powder - 3 tbsp Turmeric/Haldi - 1 tsp Tamarind Paste- 1tsp Sooji/Rava/Semolina - 1/2 cup Salt Oil Method: 1. Clean the prawns by removing the shells and the black vein (its digestive tract) which is at the back of the shrimp. Wash the prawns well. 2. In a mixing bowl, add red chilli powder, turmeric, tamarind, salt.  Add 1 - 2 tbsp water and make a thick paste.  Coat the prawns well and keep it covered (preferably refrigerated) for an hour or more. 3. Heat a frying pan and add 1 - 2 tbsp oil.  Coat the marinated pieces in semolina and shallow fry till the semolina crust turns crisp on both sides.  You can add little salt, red chilli powder in semolina as well. 4. Prawn/Shrimp fry is ready to serve.

  Anyone who loves South Indian food must have tried Medu Vada at least once.  Medu Vada, also known as Uddin Wada are savory donut shaped fritters made of black gram. That donut shape definitely looks good, but I go with the simple round shape. In Konkani, we call these crispy, golden brown goodies as Biscuit Ambade .

Crispy Cauliflower Pakoras or Phulgobi ke Pakode made with chickpea flour and corn flour. Ingredients: Cauliflower - about 250 gms Besan/Chickpea Flour/Gram Flour - 1/2 cup Corn Flour - 2 tbsp Turmeric/Haldi - 1/4 tsp Red Chilli Powder/Cayenne Pepper - 1 tsp Salt Oil Method: 1. Heat 5 - 6 cups of water in a pot.  Bring it to a boil.  Add cauliflower florets and little salt.  Cook for a minute so that the florets are half cooked.  Use a strainer and drain the hot water. 2. In a mixing bowl, add chickpea flour, corn flour, turmeric, cayenne pepper and little salt.  Add 1 tbsp hot (not warm) oil.  Now add water little at a time to form the batter.  Mix well to remove the lumps and batter must not be too thick or too watery. 3. Dip the half cooked cauliflower florets in the chickpea batter.  Deep fry them in medium hot oil till fritters turn crisp.  Enjoy crisp Gobi Pakode as a tea ...

Ingredients: Medium Grain Rice - 1 cup Grated Cucumber - 3/4 cup Grated Coconut - 1 cup Sugar - 1 tsp Salt Oil Method: 1. Soak rice in water for 4 - 5 hours. 2. Wash rice and grind to a fine paste using 1/2 cup water. 3. Add grated cucumber and salt to the rice paste.  Grated cucumber leaves some water.  Add that water too.  T he batter consistency must not be too thick or too watery.  Add more water if required. 4. Heat a nonstick pan and pour a ladle full of batter.  Spread it evenly to form a circular shape.  Cook both sides drizzling little oil. 5. Churan: Mix 1 cup grated coconut and 1 tsp sugar and churan is ready. 6. Serve hot Cucumber Pancakes with Churan or coconut Chutney.