One Day At A Time

Eggless cookies with loads of cashews and a butter delight. Ingredients: All Purpose Flour/Maida - 2 cups Unsalted Butter - 1/2 pound  Light Brown Sugar - 1 cup Chopped Cashews - about 1/2 cup Baking Soda - 1/8 tsp Baking Powder - 1/8 tsp Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 4 pods (seeds only) Method: 1. Heat butter just enough to melt it.  Let it cool.  Grind cardamom seeds to a fine powder. Dice cashews into small pieces. 2. In a mixing bowl, add butter and brown sugar.  Mix well with a fork or spoon.  Add cashew pieces, cardamom powder and mix well.  Lastly, add all purpose flour, baking powder and baking soda.  Mix all the ingredients to form a soft dough.  Divide the dough into 20 - 25 round balls.  You can use cinnamon (dalchini) or nutmeg (jaiphal) instead of cardamom. 3. Preheat the oven at 350 deg. F for about 10 minutes.  Line a baking tray/dish with aluminium foil.  Fla...

A green Pudina dip for fried snacks. Also, can be used for chaat like pani puri, sev puri. Ingredients: Cilantro/Coriander leaves (with tender stems) - 2 cups Mint/Pudina leaves - 1 cup Green chilies - 10 Salt How to make Indian Green Mint Chutney: Grind washed cilantro leaves, mint leaves, green chilies with little salt to a fine paste. Add little water for a thick chutney. Serve green chutney with fried pakoras/fritters or samosas. Dilute the chutney with water if you are using it for pani puri. Sieve/strain the diluted chutney if you like it smooth. Store the Teekhi Hari Chutney in freezer safe containers in the freezer. To thaw/defrost, place the container in warm water before use.

I have always loved Maharashtrian food. But my most favorite are sago recipes -  Sabudana Wadas and Sago Khichdi. And especially, when my Mom cooks this Sabudanyachi Khichdi with aromatic cilantro leaves. Here I am cooking my Mom's recipe reminiscing my childhood days in my US kitchen.

Every Mumbaikar might have heard of Ragda Pattice . I am sharing a No Onion Garlic version of this loved Mumbai Street Food. Shallow fried Potato cutlet/tikki/pattice in a hot, sweet, tangy peas gravy. Ingredients: Boiled Potatoes - 3 medium Yellow Peas/Vatana - 1 cup Asafetida/Hing - 1/4 tsp Turmeric/Haldi - 1/2 tsp Red Chili Powder - 1/4 tsp Ajwain/Owa/Carom seeds - 1/4 tsp Cumin/Jeera - 1/4 tsp Chat Masala - 1/4 tsp Cilantro/Coriander leaves - 1 cup Mint/Pudina leaves - 1/2 cup Green chillies - 5 Dates/Khajur - 1/2 cup Jaggery or Brown Sugar - 2 tbsp Tamarind/Imli - 1/4 cup Salt Oil Finely chopped Raw onions Shev or Bhujia or Farsaan Crisp Puris How to cook Indian Ragda Pattice: Soak yellow peas overnight in water. Wash the soaked peas and cook them with about 2 cups water till very soft. Add more water if required. Add 1/4 tsp turmeric, salt, asafetida  and bring to a boil. For green (hot) chutney , grind 2:1 cilantro and mint, green ...

A coconut chutney made with ridge gourd peels.  I have learnt this from my Mom, just as all other Konkani recipes.  Ridge gourd is called as Ghosale in Konkani. Ingredients: Ridge Gourd peels - about 1 cup Grated/Shredded Coconut - 1 cup Green chillies - 8 Tamarind - very small piece Salt Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp Red chillies - 2 Curry leaves/Kadipata - a sprig Asafoetida/Hing - 1/8 tsp Oil Method: 1.  Heat a pan and roast the ridge gourd peels for about a minute, to get rid of moisture if any.  Add few drops of oil and continue roasting till the raw smell goes off (about 3 - 5 minutes at low flame).   The peels will wilt a little.  Let it cool. 2. Slit the green chillies lengthwise and roast them in a pan with few drops of oil.  Roast till colour changes slightly. 3. Grind roasted peels, roasted green chillies, coconut, tamarind and salt to a fine or slightly coarse paste. 4. For tempering/tadka, heat little oil and add...

I am sure everyone likes potatoes.  We do too.  I like to cook potato with a combination of different vegetables, especially fresh greens.  Aloo (Potato) Methi (Fenugreek) is one of our favorites with soft phulka.

A Konkani style fish fry.  Semolina/Rava crusted fish with garlic.  You can try the same recipe for Mackerel, Sardine and Pomfret as well.   Ingredients: Tilapia - 1/2 pound Semolina/Rava/Sooji - 1/2 cup Cayenne Pepper/Red chilli powder - 3 tbsp Turmeric/Haldi - 1/4 tsp Tamarind Paste - 1 tsp Garlic - 4 big cloves Salt - about 1/2 tsp Oil Method: 1. In a mixing bowl, add cayenne pepper, turmeric, tamarind paste, crushed garlic and salt.  Add about 1 - 2 tbsp water and mix all the ingredients well to form a thick paste. 2. Add the washed tilapia pieces in this paste, coat them well.  Keep it covered (preferably refrigerated) for about an hour or more.  3. Coat the marinated tilapia pieces in semolina.  (You can add salt, cayenne pepper in semolina as well.)  Discard the garlic pieces.  4. Heat a frying pan and add about 1 tbsp oil.  Shallow fry the semolina coated tilapia pieces t...