Kaju Barfi

Here's kaju barfi, which I made for holi and it was a hit, like all the other times I have made it. It is totally hassle free, needs no ghee and takes less than half an hour to make it.

Ingredients:
1 cup of cashews
3/4 cup (or slightly less if you prefer) of sugar
1/4 cup of water

Method:
1. Finely grind the cashews to a powder. Don't overdo it, as the cashews may leave their oil and you may end up getting a paste instead of powder. Even if you do, it does not affect the taste :)
2. Mix the sugar and water in a kadhai. Heat till small bubbles begin to appear on the surface.
3. Stir gently and let it come to a rolling boil. No need to check for string consistency etc of the syrup.
4. Pour in the cashew powder and stir well to avoid lumps. Keep stirring for a few minutes and you should notice the mixture getting a little thicker.
5. Put a little drop on a chilled plate and test to see if it hardens slightly. You should be able to roll it into a loose ball.
6. If it does, switch off the heat and move the pan away from the hot surface.
7. Let it cool slightly and dump out the contents onto a board or a clean countertop.
8. Knead well with your hands (much like you would knead bread dough) to make it smooth and glossy.
9. Roll out with a rolling pin into 1/4 inch thick sheet and cut into any shape you want. I made these small bite sized rectagles and people around me refrain from eating sweets.
10. Let cool/dry and pack in tins between sheets of waxed paper. Store at room temperature for a week or in the fridge for longer.

This recipe comes directly from 'Saffrun Hut', which I bumped into while food surfing and kept drooling over the wonderful pic there for a long time (prolly months) before I myself made it. Thanks so much saffron, for such a wonderful recipe and such a wonderful blog!Here is the original one - http://saffronhut.blogspot.com/2006/10/simple-sweet-kaju-kathli-cashew.html

Kadhi

Now this is the kadhi I had known and savored all along, unless I landed up here in delhi and tasted the punjabi kadhi, something totally different. My kadhi version is the marathi one, with no haldi, lots of curd/buttermilk and very less besan..a contrast to the punjabi kadhi version. By now, I have started to relish both - I make the marathi one at home and enjoy the punjabi one at restaurants - lucky me!

Ingredients -
250 ml of buttermilk. If you dont have butermilk, you can add water to curd and mix it well to get a smooth, watery consistency.
2 tbsp of besan
2 green chillis slit lengthwise
half inch piece of ginger chopped to small pieces
handful of cleaned, fresh curry leaves/kadi patta/ meetha neem
1 tsp jeera
2 pinches of heeng
2 tsp ghee/oil
salt as per taste, a pinch of sugar

Method-
1. Add the besan slowly to the buttermilk. Keep stirring, lest it forms lumps. Keep this aside.
2. Heat ghee/oil in a pan/wok/kadhai.
3. When hot, add jeera and let it sizzle for a few seconds. Add heeng.
4. Add the green chillis, curry leaves, ginger and let them wilt for a minute.
5. Add the buttermilk + besan mixture and stir.
6. Add salt, sugar. Let this come to a rolling boil.
7. Sprinkle chopped dhania.
The simple, basic kadhi is ready to be served with rice or rotis. This is the way it is prepared in maharashtian households daily. However, occasionally, 'bhaji' is added to it - unlike the pakoda in punjabi kadhi, this one does not have any vegtables in it, but just simple salted besan bahjia. Here's the recipe -
2 tbsp besan
1 tsp ajwain
salt to taste
1 tspn oil
Mix all the above with some water, to make a thick batter. Heat oil in a kadhai and deep fry small dumplings of this batter. Add these to the kadhi.

Note - these bhaji can absorb all your kadhi :). So, always add them to the kadhi just half an hour before serving.

Aaloo Gobhi

This is my hubby's creation. Nothing great, it's the regular sabji fare, but whenever I attempt to make it, following exactly what he does, I end up getting a nearly overcooked, nearly soggy aaloo gobhi, nowhere near to his bright, perfectly cooked sabji. Here you go -

Ingredients -
1 midsized gobhi - cleaned, washed, cut into florets
2 aaloo- washed and cut into bite size pieces
a handful of fresh green peas (optional)
2 green chillis, an inch piece of ginger - chopped finely
3 tsp jeera (he puts so much of it, I can call this one -jeera-aaloo-gobhi)
1 tsp heeng powder, 1 tsp haldi
1 tsp garam masala, salt as per taste
chopped green dhania (optional)

1 tbsp sarso oil

Method -
1. Heat oil in a kadhai. For sarso oil, it is essential to have it heated properly, else the end product will have a strange smell.
2. Add jeera, heeng, haldi and let it sizzle for a minute.
3. Add chopped chillis and ginger, let it sizzle for another 2 mins.
4. Add the aaloo, gobhi and matar, sprinkle salt, mix and cover.
5. Let this cook covered for 7-8 minutes, open and check if cooked. It normally cooks in 7 to 8 minutes, you can cover and cook for 3 more minutes, but there is a risk of overcooking the gobhi.

6. Add the garam masala, mix.
7. Serve with chopped green dhania sprinkled.
Loads of jeera gives this sabji a great flavor - don't hesitate to put in the quantity mentioned :)

Black masoor daal

Here's black/kali/chilke waali masoor daal, a variant I cook on weekdays for dinner, along with a sabji and roti.

Ingredients
Half cup chilke waali/kali/black masoor
1 medium sized onion - chopped
1 medium sized tomato -chopepd
1 tspn each - jeera, rai, heeng, haldi
2 green chillis, half inch ginger, 3 cloves of garlic - chopped to small pieces or crushed
1 tsp oil
salt - as per taste
garam masala (optional), chopped fresh green dhania (optional), half a lemon (optional)

Method
1. In a pressure cooker pan, Wash the masoor daal, add 1 cup water. Pressure cook for 30 minutes
r 5 to 6 whistles. This one takes nearly twice the time yellow/toor daal takes to cook.
2. Heat oil in a kadhai.
3. When hot, add jeera, rai, heeng, green chilli, ginger, garlic and let all of this sizzle for
2 minutes.
3. Add onions and let them cook till they turn pink.
3. Add the tomatoes and let them cook, for 5 minutes. Keep stirring, lest they stick to the
bottom of the pan.
4. Once the tomatoes have turned mushy and soft, add the pressure cooked daal, water, salt, garam masala and mix.
5. Let this boil till you get the desired consistency.
6. Sprinkle green dhania and squeeze in the lemon.
Enjoy with hot rotis.

Pav Bhaji

Here is another weekend brunch, simple, quick and a delight. This used to be on the menu every time we had a birthday party at our home, it's easy to make and serve for a big gathering. One thing - this recipe is courtesy Everest Pav Bhaji masala, I follow the instructions exactly as mentioned on its pack, only vary the quantities.

Ingredients -
1 midsized cauliflower
2 potatoes - boiled and mashed
1 green capsicums
half cup shelled fresh green peas
2 onions - chopped to small pieces
3 tomatoes - chopped to small pieces
4 cloves of garlic - chopped or crushed
a bunch of fresh green coriander leaves - washed and chopped
1 tbsp butter/oil
butter - as much as you like :)
salt - as per taste, 3 tspn - Everest pav bhaji masala. 2 tspn - red chilli powder

Method
1. Heat butter/oil in a kadhai.
2. Add the crushed garlic and after a minute, add the chopped onions.
3. While the onions are getting cooked, add chopped and roughly cut cauliflower, capsicum and
green peas with some water in a pressure cooker and boil till 2 whistles.
4. When the onions turn soft and pinkish, add tomatoes, salt, pav bhaji masala and red chilli
powder. Let this mixture cook for 5 to 7 minutes - till tomatoes turn soft and mushy.
5. Add the boiled, mashed potatoes and boiled, mashed other veggies.
6. Add another dollop of butter, simmer for 5 more minutes. Add water if you want to, but we do not want a runny consistency.
7. Taste and add more salt, red chilli powder if you want to.
The bhaji is ready. Heat pav with buttered sides on tawa, serve with hot bhaaji. The bhaaji can
be garnished with chopped onions, coriander leaves and a dash of nimbu.
Note - The bhaaji is a very versatile , you can skip the potatoes if you want to and boil and
add carrots instead.

Chiwda - all time favorite

This is a snack present in my home all days, all seasons. It serves as a filler everytime you think "kuch khana hai". This is the most loved dish by friends and family, and mom does not even remember to how many people she has taught this one!

Ingredients -
Half Kg chooda/poha/ rice flakes (the large sized lighter ones, not the thick ones we use for
poha)
4 or 5 green chilies slit length wise
Meetha neem / kari patta leaves - cleaned, in plenty
Handful moongfali dana/peanuts - raw, not roasted one
Cashews, Raisins - optional, as much as you like
Salt as per taste, a pinch of sugar
half tsp haldi
1 tsp each of jeera,rai
2 tbsp oil

Method -
1. Take a kadhai/wok and dry roast the poha/rice flakes in it on a sim flame. They will start to turn crunchy and give a typical roasted smell. If you over do it, u will notice it starts to get brown, STOP!!
2. Spread the roasted flakes on a newspaper (in India) or a kitchenpaper (in US :). This is for easy mixing later on.
3. In the same kadha/wok, heat oil. When hot, put in peanuts, cashews, raisins and shallow fry them. After 5 mins, take these out and put on the roasted flakes spread on the paper.
4. In the remaining oil, put haldi, jeera, rai, green chillis , kadi patta, cook till the green chilies look cooked, this should take 5 mins.
5. Now switch off the gas, pour this oil mixture on the spread flakes. Spread salt, sugar too.
6. Now with both your hands, mix all of it softly, lest the flakes break and becomes powdery. It all should get mixed evenly, some of the flakes remaining white, some of it getting too yellow is a bad sign. Another good thing is that excess oil will be absorbed by the paper.
7. Taste and add additional salt if you want.
8. If u think the kadi patta is too much, remove it at this step. It has already lent its flavor.
My mom removes most of it, but crushes a few and lets it remain.
9. The chiwda is ready. However, if you want, go ahead and add some plain, salted (haldirams) bhujiya to this. In typical Marathi homes, they would fry aaloo ka kees (the drie done that is prepared in homes along with aaloo ke chips) and add to this, but it increases the oil content of the whole thing.
10. A quick fix - if u think some of the poha remained white and there is too less oil in the mixture, reheat some oil in the same kadhai, add haldi and pour on the mixture, mix again.
11.Once completely cool, store in an air tight container.