Kadhi without curd

When I heard this for first time, I did not believe it. But when I saw the demo and prepared it myself, it was refreshing and tasty. I saw the recipe about 2 weeks back on Saam marathi channel on a program called Sugaran. It was some summer special program I think. And nothing defines summer better than mangoes; be it raw or ripe. So don't just bookmark this recipe but try it immediately.

• Pressure cook 2 tangy raw mangoes. You can keep the skin while cooking the mangoes.
• Once cooled, remove the skin, and take out all the pulp.
• Grind in mixie once. Then add 2-3 tbsp of besan, 1/2 tsp red chilli powder, salt and jaggery as per taste. Mix it well.
• Now in a pan/kadhai, heat 1tbsp oil..For tempering add 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 10-12 karipattas, 2-3 green chillies (vertically slated).
• Add the mango pulp to the tadka. Add required amount of water and simmer the kadhi for 5 min.
• Serve it hot or cold.

Simple delights of life: Varan Bhaat

Staying away from home is not easy specially when it comes to food. Till my BE studies, I had never stayed away from home and definitely never alone.So when I first moved to Pune and then to Bangalore, I was happy that every day I can eat in restaurants. But that joy was short lived as it gets boring to eat same paneer,kurma,naan day after day. I started craving for home cooked food and I had no other option but to start cooking. I used to help my mother here and there and knew recipes in theory. But theory is very difficult than practical is what I realised. So I thought that at least on weekends I should cook something nice.Then I committed my first mistake which most beginners do; try to cook something very elaborate like they show in TV shows. Most of the times the result is disastrous. I don't remember what exactly happened in my case. But anyway I turned my attention to very basic recipes. As I used to see how my Mom used to cook a recipe, I tried to visualize the steps and then confirmed with her on each stage. Once you start cooking on regular basis, you get handle on ingredient quantities, time to cook. Post which cooking some elaborate,complex dishes becomes very easy. Now I cook regular daal,chaval,roti,subzi almost every day and on weekends I try some special dishes. But still sometimes I try to attempt recipe modifications even when I'm trying it for first time and some times results are horrific but now the ratio of failed v/s successful recipes is better.

Here is my recipe of basic varan (boiled daal) which is common in Marathi household. I think each beginner cook should learn this. This will help you survive when staying alone :)

Ingredients*:
1 cup toor daal (this will be enough for 4-5 people or more)
1/2 tbls turmeric powder
1/4 tbls asafoetida(hing)
2 tbls grated jaggery (or 1-2 small pieces of "halls" size)
1 tbs salt

*Note: These are approximate quantities. You can change quantities as per taste.

1. Thoroughly wash the daal. If you've time keep the washed daal aside for 1/2hr. This will help in faster cooking.
2. Add the daal in pressure cooker with 3-4 cups of water depending on the thickness of the cooked daal you want. Generally for cooking rice 1:2 ratio of rice and water is used and for daal its 1:4.If you heat water little bit on high flame (by the time you wash your daal)and then add all ingredients then cooking is faster.
3. Add all other ingredients and close the lid.Light gas burner and keep on high flame.
4. After first whistle, reduce gas flame to low and wait for 2-3 whistles.Switch off burner then.

Varan is served mostly with hot rice. Add lemon juice and ghee in hot varan-bhaat to experience heaven on earth.

Simple delights of life : Dalma

Few simple things can give you so much pleasure. One recipe I learned after my marriage is a very simple daal. On weekdays when you want quick and healthy meal, this daal can make your life easier. It has daal, vegetables so its complete meal with rice. If you want you can serve mashed potatoes or any simple dry subzi with it.
This daal needs very few ingredients
1 cup moong daal
1 cup vegetables (like pumpkin,plantain,brinjal,drumsticks,beans etc.)
1 tbs paanchfodan(equal mix of mustard seeds,cumin seeds,kalonji,fenugreek seeds,saunf)
2 tbls oil
1 tbs turmeric powder
2 red chillies
Salt to taste
1/2 tbs Cumin powder + red chilli powder for final touch

1.Dry roast the daal lightly
2.In pressure cooker add daal,vegetables, turmeric powder,salt with enough water. Cook till daal and vegetables are well done.
3.In a kadhai, heat oil. Add paanchfodan,red chillies and let it splutter.
3.Then pour cooked vegetables and daal.Add some water to adjust thickness.
4.Boil for 3-4 min.Switch off heat and finish with cumin powder+red chilli powder.
5. Serve with rice