Karanji (Fresh Coconut)

Hello, Happy Diwali to all of you.

Diwali the festival of lights;celebrated in Ashwin month of hindu calendar starting with Vasu Baaras(worshiping cow),Dhanatrayodashi, NarakChaturdashi, Laxmi Pujan, Paadawa/Balipratipada, Bhaubij/Yamadwitiya.

We prepare lots of sweets and spicy snacks i.e 'Diwali Faraal' like ladu, chakali, shankarpale, karanji, shev, chiwada. I remember how my mom plan all of these in advance and then she usually started with the one that takes long;I was her assistant (of course for chakali; can't forget the taste of hot chakali)

We used to draw a big rangoli with mom at the entrance of home,building fort with clay and rocks was a fun and of course fireworks was the main attraction.Oh gosh I am missing all of this!!!

Here is the first item of faraal 'Olya Naralachya Karanjya'. You can make this dish with dry coconut also but I love this version.

Ingredients-

• 2 cups maida/all purpose flour
• 1 cup fine rava/semolina
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups freshly grated coconut/Frozen Coconut
• oil for frying + 6 tablespoon
• 10-12 chopped almonds
• 1 teaspoon cardamom powder
• pinch of salt
• Few drops of food colorings(optional)

Method-

1. Mix maida and rava and add pinch of salt.
2. Heat 6 tablespoons of oil in a pan and then add the very hot oil to maida-rava mixture and then mix it well.
3. Add water gradually and knead the dough.To make it extra special divide the dough and add few drops of food colorings and knead to make soft dough.
4. Cover the dough and let it rest for 3-4 hours.
5. Meanwhile in a heavy bottom pan add sugar and grated coconut and put on medium high on stove and stir it frequently.
6. Switch of the stove when the sugar dissolved completely and the stuffing became sticky.
7. Add cardamom powder and almonds to the stuffing.
8. After 3 -4 hours knead the dough again and make lemon size balls of the dough and roll it to make small puri.
9. Place 1 teaspoon stuffing at the center of rolled dough/puri and apply water to the edges of rolled dough and close the edges carefully by pressing the opposite edges to make wedge like shape. Remove the extra dough with help of knief by cutting into perfect wedge shape.(see the photo to get the clear idea)
10. Similarly prepare all karanjis and cover it with damp cloth.
11. Heat oil in deep frying pan and deep fry the karanjis on low flame to light golden color.
12. 20-25 medium size karanjis you can make with this.

Tips-

• Don't make the stuffing too wet otherwise will come out while frying.
• If the stuffing is too wet add 1-2 tablespoon sugar and heat it again till sugar gets dissolved.
• Use oil while making dough don't use dalada/vegetable shortening or ghee;It will make dough hard.

Katachi Aamati

Indian food is well blend of all flavorings as sweet,sour,spicy,bitter,salty,tangy . Traditionally keliche paan/Banana leaf is used to serve(as a plate) maharashtrian food. Typical maharashtrian plate consists of salt,lemon wedge, koshimbir/raita, chutney, sukki batata bhaaji/ potatoes dry vegetable,aluchi bhaaji/Colocassia leaves vegetable,katachi amati/curry, bhaji/pakoda, papad, plain rice, masale bhatt/ spicy rice, sakhar bhaat/sweet rice,plain dal, puran poli,dessert, mattha/buttermilk and last but not least vida/ meetha paan/ Betel leaf.

This is my attempt to present a maharashtrian thali served on keliche paan.

There is a typical way on how the serving should be made on your plate like on the left side of plate salt,lemon wedge,chutney,pickle,koshimbir,panchamrut, bhaji, papad, kurdai, puranpoli, shrikhand-puri and on right side batata bhaaji,aluchi pattal bhaaji and kheer and in the center plain rice,masale bhaat,sakhar bhaat and in bowls katachi aamati,milk for puran poli.Sides of plates are decorated with rangoli and eveybody sits on paat/ small wooden raised stool. Before starting to eat everyone says a sholka 'Wadani kaval gheta' and believe me it's soul satisfying food; indulging all your senses.

Now lets talk about katachi aamati. It's a spicy soupy dish accompanying plain rice.Drained water from cooked chana dal is called as Kat. Let's get into it...

Ingredients-

• 2 cups kat (refer puranpoli for preparing kat)
• 1 teaspoon red chili powder
• 1/2 tablespoon jaggery
• 1/2 tablespoon tamarind paste
• 4-5 curry leaves
• 1 tablespoon dried grated coconut
• 4-5 cloves
• cumin seeds
• 2-3 dried whole red chilies
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• salt
• oil

Method-

1. Take grated coconut and cumin seeds and roast it till coconut become golden color.
2. Take kat in a bowl add red chili powder, curry leaves,cloves,jaggery,tamarind paste,dried chilies.
3. Heat oil in a pan and add pinch of asfodia and turmeric powder then add kat mixed with all spices;then add roasted coconut and cumin seeds and boil it till the jaggery gets dissolved.
4. Serve hot with plain rice.

PuranPoli

Happy Dasara/Dussehra/Vijaydashmi to all.

Puranpoli is a one of traditional Maharashtrian delicacies. Coking skills of a girl(especially newly wed)are always tested by how good is her puranpoli. I still remember the get-togethers we did when I was a kid; we all used gather for festivals at my grandma's place;we played,we fought and we ate what a great meals.My aaji/grandma is a very good cook and everyone calls her Anapurna. She is 80 and still want to preapre meals personally whenever we visit. I always wondered will I be able to make puranpolis like her? Gave it a try;came out pretty good but she is the BOSS!!!!

Here is the puranpoli I prepared for naivedyam on Dasara.

Ingredients-

For Puran/Stuffing

• 1 1/4 cups chana dal
• 1 cup jaggery
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg powder
• Pinch of turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon oil

For Poli/bread/Cover

• 1/4 cup semolina/rava
• 1 cup wheat flour
• 1 cup all-pourpose flour/maida
• 4 tablespoons oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method-

1. Take semolina/rava and add 1/2 cup water to it; to soak for 30-40 minutes.
2. Take the remaining dry ingredients for poli and add soaked rava along with the water(add water gradually) then add oil to a kneaded dough and once again knead to make soft and loose dough.The dough should be loose and oily to make the dough pliable.Cover the dough and set aside for 1 hour.
3. Take dal and add 3 1/2 cups of water,pinch of turmeric powder and 1 tablespoon oil to it and put it in pressure cooker/rice cooker.It's the quickest way to cook otherwise u can use pot also.
4. Take 5-6 whistles varies with size of cooker. As I don't have puran yantra/machine; I prefer to cook it for more time.Puran yantra is similar to the food mill used for mashed potatoes.
5. Once the dal is cooked drain out the excess water known as 'Kat' from it and save it to make 'Katachi Aamati' a spicy soupy dal.
6. Blend the dal with egg beater or hand blender to get smooth texture.
7. Put the blended dal in pan on stove on medium high and add jaggery,sugar and stir it till it get dissolved completely into dal. Cook this mixture till the spoon can stand straight into it without falling.
8. Then add nutmeg and cardamom powder and mix well. Turn off the stove and stir frequently to avoid burning/sticking at bottom of pan.
9. Make lemon size balls of dough and flatten the dough little with your hand and make a shape of small bowl.Take 2 tablespoons of puran/stuffing and put it into the dough bowl and close the dough.
10. Dust the rolling pin and surface with flour and start rolling out poli/bread spreading the stuffing evenly.
11. Put the tawa/skillet on stove on medium high and roast it on the both sides.
12. Serve hot with sajuk tup/ clarified butter and a bowl of milk.

Happy Navratri - Ude Ga Ambe Ude !!

To all readers a very 'Happy Navratri' - festival of triumph of good over evil.

First Nine days of Ashwin month (Seventh month of Hindu Calendar) is celebrated as Navratri-in honour of Maa Durga. First three days are for worshiping Mahakali Maata, next three days Maa Laxmi and last three days Maa Saraswati.

Tenth day is celebrated as Dasara/Dussehra/Vijaydashmi one of the 3 and 1/2 auspicious days in Hindu Calender. This day also marked as victory of Lord Rama over Raavan. People visit each other and worship Apata Tree and exchange its leaves called 'Sone - Gold'. In Maharashtra, people also ritually cross the border of their village / town. This ceremony is known as 'seemollangha'. Everyone worship their books,notebooks,pens. Various cultural programs are organised in temple like Jaagar,Kirtan,Bhajans and DandiyaRaas/Garba.

My mother and my mother-in-law they both do upawas/fast for nine days. We prepare various sweets for naivedya everyday.

I was talking with my mother to get some ideas about preparing sweets;she told me some awesome dishes that I never tried on my own;there is no harm in telling you I was a guest visitor or should say guest cooker (He he he :))in the kitchen before my marriage.

Then my thought process started;I wanted to try something new and one led to another thing and Ta da !!!

I created a whole new dish.I never saw or ate it before and it tasted good( tried and tested on my husband).

So here I proudly represent - BlueBerry Coconut Delight

[Will tell you story behind blueberries some other day]

Ingredients-

• 2 cups Freshly grated Coconut/Frozen Coconut
• 1 3/4 cup Sugar
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
• Cashews/blanched almonds for garnish
• 1 teaspoon ghee/butter

Method-

1. Put coconut and sugar in a heavy bottom pan on low flame.
2. Add blueberries and stir the mixture frequently.
3. Once the sugar gets dissolved and the mixture starts to bubble add lemon juice.
4. Now stir the mixture till it gets thick.
5. Take off from stove and add cardamom powder and mix well.
6. Apply ghee/butter to a dish and pour the mixture into the dish.
7. Level it with spoon and put some cashews/blanched almonds for garnish.
8. Let it dry for sometime and then cut into pieces.

Tip- The color is so amazing and tempting that you can't wait for long so for quick drying keep it in freezer for sometime and then cut.