About me

I believe food like music can bring cultures together.

I am creating this blog for 2 reasons.

• To store my recipes in the cloud
• To share my insights with all the foodies over the world.

I am a complete vegetarian and believe that vegetarian food can be very interesting.
Vegetarianism could also be an answer to all our health issues.
My recipes are simple home-made food that I cook for my family on a daily basis.

I derive my inspiration from the food that I have grown up eating as a child. Most of these recipes are nothing fancy but an integral part of my childhood. As a south Indian growing up in the beautiful and loving city of Mumbai, I couldn't ask for a more cosmopolitan palate. My food is a mixture of Palakkad(Kerala), Maharashtrian, and Gujarati cultures. Being the foodie I am, I enjoy a variety of vegetarian cuisines, be it Italian, Mexican, or Thai. However, I feel we need to treasure our recipes and hand them over to the generations to come so that we don't lose them. What better way to store them than to write them down? So here are some recipes from my family to yours.

Potato Sabzi (Potato Roast)

Ingredients

• Potatoes – 6-8 medium sized
  
• Oil – 1/4th cup
  
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp
  
• Turmeric – 1/2 tsp
  
• Asafoetida – 1/4 tsp
  
• Red chilli powder – 1/2 tsp
  
• Corriander powder – 1 tb.sp
  
• Sugar – 1/4 tsp
  
• Salt – To taste
  
• Cilantro – for garnish (optional)

Process

1. Boil and peel the potatoes and chop them into cubes.
   
   
   
2. Add Turmeric, asafoetida, chilli powder, corriander powder & salt to the cut potatoes. Mix it well.
   
   
   
3. Now heat oil in a pan and let the cumin seeds splutter. Add the potatoes.
   
4. Cook it on medium heat for half an hour stirring occasionally till it becomes crisp.
   
5. Sprinkle the sugar and the chopped cilantro (optional) and serve it with hot rice or rotis.

My take on it.

• I feel potatoes are gods gift to vegetarians. Whenever I am in a dilemma I just boil the potatoes and make this. My daughter loves this and so do I. In fact I rarely know anyone who doesn't like potatoes..

• It’s easy to make and tastes delicious. You can make it spicy if you like spicy food and the cilantro is optional. I just love the flavor of  fresh cilantro.

• As a variation you can also add olive oil.

Maharashtrian Usal

Ingredients

• Moong Sprouts – 2 cups
  
• Onion – 1 medium sized (finely chopped)
  
• Tomato – 1 medium sized (finely chopped)
  
• Green chillies – 3 (slit lengthwise)
  
• Turmeric powder – 1tsp
  
• Red chilli powder – 1/2 tsp
  
• Corriander powder – 1 & 1/2 tsp
  
• Garam masala powder – 1/4 tsp
  
• oil – 4 tbsps
  
• Cilantro – 2 & 1/2 tbsps
  
• Salt – To taste

Process

1. Soak the Whole green moong for 8-10 hrs and leave it in the colander over night. You will see sprouts in the morning.
   
   
   
   
2. Cook the Moong sprouts with 4 cups of water in the pressure cooker till soft.
   
3. In a pan heat oil and add cumin seeds and onion and saute till it turns golden brown.
   
4. Add green chillies, tomato, turmeric powder, red chilli powder,corriander powder, and garam masala powder and salt to taste. Cook the above mixture well till the oil comes to the top.
   
5. Add the cooked moong and add water if you like it watery.
   
6. Garnish with cilantro.

My take on it

• This is one of my favourite maharashtrish dish. It can also serve as a soup because its very comforting and very healthy.
• If you don’t see sprouts in the morning leave it the whole day to sprout.
• you can add boiled potatoes to it if necessary.
• While serving you can also serve it with lemon wedges if you like it tangy.
• This can be eaten with rice as well as rotis.

Beans Sabzi

Ingredients 

• Beans – 2 cups (finely chopped)
• Grated coconut – 2-3 tbsp
• Red chillies – 1
• Turmeric powder – 1/8th tsp
• Mustard seeds – 1/4 tsp
• Urad dal – 1 tsp
• Oil – 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves – 4-5
• Salt – To taste

Process

1. In a pan pour oil. Once the oil heats up, add the urad dal & mustard seeds.
2. When the urad dal turns light brown, add beans and curry leaves.
3. Add 1/2 a cup of water, salt & turmeric powder and let it cook
4. Grind grated coconut with red chilli.
5. Add it to the cooked beans & remove from heat.

My take on it

• This is the easiest sabzi’s of all time. If I have beans left I just make this. It takes around half an hour to make. I add a little turmeric powder to retain the green color of fresh beans.

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Choley

Chickpeas in onion and tomato gravy.

Ingredients

• Chickpeas – 1 big can (28 oz can)
  
• Onions – 1 medium sized (finely chopped)
  
• Tomato Paste – 2 tbsp
  
• Green Chillies – 2 small (slit)
  
• Oil – 6 tbsp
  
• Punjabi Choley Masala – 2 1/2 tbsp
  
• Red Chilli powder – 1tsp
  
• Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
  
• Garlic powder – 1/2 tbsp
  
• Cilantro – finely chopped for garnish
  
• Salt – to taste

Process

1. Heat the oil in a Kadhai.
   
2. Once the oil heats up add green chillies and onions. Saute till golden brown.
   
   
   
3. Dissolve the tomato paste in 1 cup of water and add it to the onions.
   
   
   
   
4. Add choley masala, turmeric, red chilli powder and salt to this mixture.
   
   
   
5. Let it cook for 3 mins in medium heat.
   
6. Now add the can of chickpeas and add 2 cups of water to it.
   
7. Stir it well and cover it and cook on medium heat for 8 mins.
   
8. Remove the lid and cook it without covering for 2 mins on medium heat.
   
9. Garnish with Cilantro and onion and a lemon wedge.

My take on it

Choley is predominantly a North Indian dish. Since my husband spent some time in North India he loves it. It took me a long time to get the spices right. But now, I know it like the back of my hand.
I like to garnish my choley with some thinly sliced ginger. But many people don't like to bite into ginger so it depends on personal taste.
You can also put like 1/2 a tsp of garam masala if you want it to be a little spicy, but I personally like it to be subtle.
It’s a very simple dish to make if you have last minute guests.
It can also be served with Roti, Puri, Bhatura or simple plain Rice & Dal.



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Mint Rasam

Pudhina Rasam

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Ingredients

• Mint leaves – 1/2 Cup(finely chopped)
• Tomato – 1 medium sized
• Green chillies – 1
• Ginger – 1 tsp(finely chopped)
• Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
• Asafoetida (Hing) – 1/4 tsp
• Rasam powder – 2 tsps
• Curry leaves – 10
• Tamarind paste – 1/4 tsp
• Sugar – 1/4 tsp
• Red chillies – 1
• Ghee – 1tbsp
• Mustard seeds – 1/4tsp
• Cumin seeds – 1/4 tsp
• Fenugreek seeds – 1tsp
• Fresh Cilantro – 2tbsp(finely chopped)
• Salt – To taste

Process

1. Pressure cook & mash the toor dal with 2cups water and 1/4 tsp turmeric powder.
2. Grind the tomato, mint leaves, ginger & green chilly without adding water.
3. Add the above mixture to 2 cups of water & bring it to a boil.
4. Add turmeric powder, asafoetida,  curry leaves, rasam powder, salt & tamarind paste to the boiling mixture.
5. Cover the mixture lightly and let it boil on medium heat for 7 minutes. Covering it helps retain the flavour.
6. Add the cooked toor dal to this mixture and add 2&1/2 cups of water.
7. Cover it again and let it foam at the brim. Its very important that this mixture should not boil.
8. As soon as you see foam remove it from heat.

Garnish
In a sauce pan heat some ghee and add the red chilly, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds & a pinch of asafoetida.

My take on it

• Its very important to add the fenugreek seeds in the end to avoid the sour taste.  Adding asafoetida during garnish is strictly optional. I do it because I love the flavour. You can also sprinkle some finely chopped mint leaves in the end. 
• Rasam is a South Indian soup and also a popular comfort food in southern India. Any time I was down with a cold or fever my mom would make this at home and I used to find it extremely comforting. I just love rasam and it’s a personal favourite. The garnish is extremely important as it enhances the rasam’s flavour. you can also sprinkle some black pepper powder just before the garnish. Stay tuned for many varieties of rasam.
• Incidentally, rasam is the basis of mulligatawny soup, which is an Anglo-Indian version of the same.

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Pav Bhaji

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