Tag: coconut

Kairchi Daal

Gudhi padwa is celebrated in Maharashtra, India as a new year. Across India the same day is celebrated by different names but the spirit is the same. We look at nature, and you can see that spring is in the air and this day is the celebration of the new beginnings. Bengali celebrate ‘poila boishokh’ , Keralite celebrate Vishu and so much more. Not just in India but even Zoroastrians celebrate ‘Nowrouz’ which marks the first day of the spring. On this day they have a platter newly sprouting wheat is always on the table along with other things.

I feel you feel like celebrating if you just look around. Where I live, there are beautiful blossoms everywhere, when I go for a walk, I see beautiful wildflowers, mustard fields with yellow flower and just a sense of rejuvenation.

We went for a beautiful hike in a state park and saw so many beautiful wild flowers, it was just breathtaking.

I picked a few of these and decided to make a Gudhi using those.

In India, especially in Maharashtra we celebrate Navratri which starts on Gudhi Padwa. Often there are Haldi Kunku which is a gathering for women, an informal social gathering. The celebration is for a goddess and I remember very fondly my Aai coming up with amazing ideas for decorations. One year we had recreated a famous garden from southern india, another year was a beautiful swing made with flowers and plants. As a kid I loved helping Aai with this event.

This is also the season when you start seeing Green mangoes on the tree in India. So naturally traditionally two dishes using the green mango are always made for this haldi kunku, Aam Panhe, a drink made with cooked green mango & jaggery and the second is this , Kairichi Daal.

I love both of these things very much. Today when I picked up the green mango to make this, it turned out not very sour but the kiwis I picked up from the farmers market were so sour, so voila, a new dish is born. I added some Kiwi and the results were quite delicious.

It a super easy recipe, hope you guys like it. If you have any such traditions, I would love to know about them. 🙂

I have also written the recipe in Marathi, hope thats useful to some.

Kiwi Green Mango Lentil Salad

This is a typical dish made during the spring while the mangoes are still green and tart. Soaked lentils add a perfect crunch to this salad

Ingredients

साहित्य

2 Cups Chana Daal
1/2 Cup Peeled and grated Green Mango
2 Kiwi Peeled and chopped
3-4 Green Chili paste
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Sugar
1/3 Cup Freshly grated coconut
1-2 Tbsp Chopped mint leaves
1 Tbsp Chopped cilantro

For tempering

3 Tbsp Oil
1 Tsp Mustard seeds
1 Tsp Cumin seeds
1/4 Tsp Asafetida
3 Dry red chilies
1 Sprig Curry leaves

Instructions

Method

Soak the lentils for 4-5 hours at the least
Drain and crush them in mortar pestle, make sure you don’t make a fine paste
Mix sugar, salt, coconut, mint, cilantro in the crushed lentils. Once its completely mixed, add the kiwi and green mango.
Heat oil in a pan. Check if its hot by adding a couple of mustard seeds, if they splutter add the rest of the ingredients and saute for 30 secs. Make sure it does not burn
Add this tempering to the lentil mixture. The salad is now ready
Serve at room temperature

Kiwi Green Mango Lentil Salad

This is a typical dish made during the spring while the mangoes are still green and tart. Soaked lentils add a perfect crunch to this salad

Ingredients

साहित्य

2 Cups Chana Daal
1/2 Cup Peeled and grated Green Mango
2 Kiwi Peeled and chopped
3-4 Green Chili paste
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Sugar
1/3 Cup Freshly grated coconut
1-2 Tbsp Chopped mint leaves
1 Tbsp Chopped cilantro

For tempering

3 Tbsp Oil
1 Tsp Mustard seeds
1 Tsp Cumin seeds
1/4 Tsp Asafetida
3 Dry red chilies
1 Sprig Curry leaves

Instructions

Method

Soak the lentils for 4-5 hours at the least
Drain and crush them in mortar pestle, make sure you don’t make a fine paste
Mix sugar, salt, coconut, mint, cilantro in the crushed lentils. Once its completely mixed, add the kiwi and green mango.
Heat oil in a pan. Check if its hot by adding a couple of mustard seeds, if they splutter add the rest of the ingredients and saute for 30 secs. Make sure it does not burn
Add this tempering to the lentil mixture. The salad is now ready
Serve at room temperature

Tags ambyachi daal, anaghagodbole, coconut, easy to make, green mango, healthy, kairichi daal, lentil, maharashtrian, marathi, masterchef, protein packed, raw food, thesaffrontouch, traditional recipes, vegan, vegetarian

dessert Indian Maharashtrian Main Dish Rice Vegetarian

Narali Bhaat

If you notice coconut is used extensively in Maharashtrian cooking, especially in the costal cooking. Same three ingredients, fresh coconut, Jaggery and rice are used to create a variety of desserts.

Modak

You take the rice flour, fresh coconut and jaggery, with a little bit of steam you turn it into this delicious dumpling, Modak. Modak are made specially for Ganesh festival as those are Bappa’s favorite.

Patole

You take the rice flour, make pancake with it. Stuff it with a earthy mixture of fresh Coconut, jaggery and some aromatic spices like cardamom and poppy seeds, That turns into patole. The same are also found in Kerala

Sandane

Soak the rice, grind it coarsely, makes some jaggery and coconut, steamed the whole make sure to make something like a pudding which can be enjoyed with sweetened coconut milk, it’s called Sandane. Sometime you can also add jackfruit pulp, I love that variation a lot

Ghavan Ghatale

A pancake is made with rice flour and eaten with coconut milk sweetened with jaggery

As you can see that traditional recipes use ingredients that are local, which is why I love cooking these recipes and sharing with everyone.

Today’s recipe is no different, it uses these very simple basic ingredients and turns into this comforting delicious dessert.

Rakshabandhan/ Narali Poornima

The fisherman community does not fish during the monsoon months. They treat the sea as their God and let it rest for those four months. Its on this day that they restart the fishing. They sing songs, dress up and offer coconut as an offering to the sea.

On this full moon the fisherman community celebrates with praying to the ocean God and offer him a special treat of this rice. Since the rice is heavily flavored with coconut, it’s called Narali bhat and the full moon is called Narali(naral=coconut) Poornima( poornima=full moon 🌝)

Narali Purnima

This is also the day when most of the Indians celebrate ‘Rakhi Poornima’. The word is based on the word, ‘ Raksha’, which means protection. It is believed that the sister ties this colorful thread, Rakhi on her brothers wrist as a thank you for protecting her. The brother makes a promise to take care of her.

Now a days it’s a celebration of sibling’s love and I absolutely adore that. We are three sisters and the youngest brother, and on this day we remind each other of the love we share and promise to be there for each other.

This year we could not be together for celebrating this festival but I at least tried to celebrate with this special bhaat and shared it virtually with them.

Here is the recipe!

Narali Bhaat

A sweet rice dish with coconut and jaggery, flavored with saffron.

Course Dessert, Main Course

Cuisine Indian, Maharashtrian

Keyword easy to make, gluten-free, vegetarian

Author Anagha

Ingredients

1 cup Basmati Rice
2 cups water
1 pinch of salt
4 Cloves
4 Green Cardamom
4 tbsp Clarified Butter/ Ghee
8-10 Cashew split in halves
1 Tbsp Saffron dissolved in 1 tbsp milk
1 cup Freshly grated coconut
3/4- 1 cup Jaggery

Instructions

Soak the rice for 15-20 mins in cold water. Drain and set aside
Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a heavy bottom pan
Fry the cashews and set aside
Add cloves and cardamom and saute for a min
Add drained rice and saute for another min
Add the boiling water to the rice and stir
Add a pinch of salt, bring it to a boil and cover
Let the rice cook till all the water is absorbed.
Once the rice is cooked, spread it on a plate to cool
Mix coconut and jaggery and cook till the jaggery melts and the mixture comes together
Add the cooked rice and mix with very gently
Cover and let it steam for 5-7 mins
Add the remaining ghee and saffron milk and mix well
Add the fried cashews and serve

Breakfast Snack Vegan Vegetarian

Cardamom Maple Granola

I had no clue what granola was until a few years ago. In fact, any time I saw granola in a coffee shop or a bakery, I would think that it must be a oatmeal resin cookie experiment gone bad, or maybe some got the wrong type of oats. But then a few years ago we visited Mendocino.

Mendocino is a quaint little town north of San Francisco along the pacific; it has a picturesque shoreline, a cute little downtown with art galleries, and chocolate shops galore. This is one of my favorite places to visit. We usually end up renting a big place with friends and cooking and spending time in the jacuzzi- it’s a lot of fun. Anyway, back to my granola, I had a chance to taste some amazing granola on one of my trips to Mendocino, and I loved it. I could see how easily you can customize it to your taste or preference. I started making granola and played around with different ingredients, tried various recipes as well. But the one I liked the most was from Genius recipes. I use that as a base and make changes as needed.

I love making it at home as I can control the kind of ingredients used, I use all organic ingredients which is perfect for my family and friends.

I packed this Granola for my kids, and they both came home asking for three times the quantity. It seems like their friends also loved it. I like it because it stores well, you can eat it as a snack, or for breakfast with milk, or add to your parfait, the possibilities are endless. The process is super simple- it’s literally just mixing ingredients and sticking it in the oven, you don’t even have to babysit. I normally make it in the evening and let it cool overnight.

Today I served this with fresh apricots I picked up in the farmer’s market. Some chopped apricots, blueberries, yogurt with a touch of salt and topped with crunchy granola. Everyone loved it. You can serve the parfait in a clear glass bowl, and it looks so pretty.

The recipe which inspired me to make this version is from Genius Kitchen. I love the nutty flavor of Olive Oil that compliments the earthy maple. I make many variations of this but our favorites are this one with cardamom and another with star anise, I add some fennel seeds in that along with popper sorghum.

You can use anything you like, its like a blank canvas.

Yum

Cardamom Maple Granola

Ingredients

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut chips
1 cup raw pecans, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup Chopped cashews
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2cup packed light-brown sugar
1pinch coarse salt, to taste
1 tsp Cardamom powder

Instructions

Heat the oven to 300F
Mix oil, brown sugar, maple syrup in a steel bowl
Mix all the nuts, coconut and oats in a separate container
Add the nut mixture to the oil and sugar mixture.
Mix well
Add salt and stir once
Take a cookie sheet and line with a parchment paper
Spread the mixture evenly on the sheet

Bake

Bake for 45 mins
Stir every 10-15 mins
After 45 mins take it out of the oven and stir in the cardamom powder
Let it cool on the sheet for an hour
Store it in a airtight container

Serve

You can serve this with milk for breakfast
You can make parfait with yogurt, some fresh fruit and this granola
You can eat it as a snack

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https://thesaffrontouch.com/2018/07/06/cardamom-maple-granola/

Condiments Goan Indian Pickles & Chutneys Vegan Vegetarian

Pineapple sasave- sasam

Summer vacations are even more focused on food in my household. We love making new dishes using abundant produce. We all look forward to elaborate meals on the patio accompanied with some jazz in the back ground. I have been meaning to blog this for a long time, but when I was planning the menu today, this just fit right in, so here it is

Last time when we visited India, we visited family in Goa. For those who dont know where Goa is, it is a western coastal state of India. Known for its beautiful vibrant beaches and amazing sea food, this state offers a great cuisine. Since Portuguese settled here, the goan cuisine is influenced by the Portuguese cuisine. There are some recipes that are typical of the christian household and some that are more Hindu cuisine. No matter which one you pick, it is great food for sure .

The family we visited, Didi who is the lady of the house, is amazing cook. She had made a spread that we enjoyed so much. Her home is also very beautiful, courtyard, brick walls, it is so inviting and warm. One of the recipes she made is Ananas Sasave- pineapple curry.

In summer, I love cooking with fruits and Pineapple goes so well with so many things. Tangy, sweet I love it in many dishes.

This dish has everything, a bit of sweet, a bit of sour, a bit of spice and everything nice. It is very easy to make and tastes good hot or room temperature. I love to eat it with piping hot rice and a dash of ghee. It is very easy to make, comes together in 15 mins.

_MG_3768

I made this as a part of the meal, prawn curry, raw banana Kaape, rice and papad.

Ingredients:

Paste

1 cup of fresh grated coconut

1 tsp of mustard seeds

1 small piece of tamarind

1-2 green chilies

For tempering

1 tbsp oil ( I used coconut oil)

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1 pinch of asafetida

1 spring of curry leaves

1 dry red chili

Other

3 cups of cubed pineapple

1 tbsp jaggery

salt to taste

Method

Make a fine paste of all the ingredients listed under paste. The finer the better, but use as little water as possible.

You can add water later, but try to grind with a little amount.

_MG_3742

Heat the pan and heat coconut oil, make sure you cook on medium heat otherwise the oil can smoke.

Add mustard seeds, asafoetida, curry leaves and dry red chilies. saute for a few secs, and add pineapple pieces. Add salt, stir and cook for a few minutes covered.

Add the ground paste and cook on low heat. Add jaggery and taste for salt.

Your sasave is ready.

This dish awakens all the senses, it is a riot of flavors in your mouth.

Tags coconut, curry, goa, Goan, Indian, vegan

Masala (Spice Mix) Recipes

Kolhapuri Masala

I come from Maharashtra, a state in Western India. It shares its border with other states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, and Gujarat. Needless to say, you can see the influence of different states on the local cuisine in the cities on the border. Kolhapur, a town which is closer to Karnataka, is famous for four things: Goddess Mahalakshmi Temple, handmade leather shoes, beautiful Maharashtrian jewelry and its fiery cuisine.

Today, I am sharing a recipe for making a masala (a mixture of spices) that is used to make famous Kolhapuri Mutton. You can also use it for vegetarian dishes such as Kolhapuri Misal( I will post my recipe for this soon) and Veg Kolhapuri.

This is my Mom’s recipe, I think she is the best cook in the world.

Ingredients

Dry Masala

1 cup coriander seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1/2 cup shredded dry coconut

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1/2 tbsp black peppercorns

1/2 inch cinnamon stick

1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds

1 tsp fennel seeds

Wet Masala

1/2 cup onions, roughly chopped

8-10 garlic cloves

1 cup cilantro leaves chopped

2 tbsp oil

1 cup red chilli powder

Method:

1. Toast all the dry masala in a dry pan. Let it cool.

2 Saute onion & garlic in oil till nicely browned. Add cilantro and turn off the heat.

3. Grind the dry roasted spices to a fine powder (I use a coffee grinder)

4. Grind the wet masala separately. Now mix the wet and dry masalas with the red chili powder.

5. Once cooled, keep it in the fridge until ready to use.

This mixture should be used within 7 days. If you would like to keep it for longer, use deep fried or dried onion and leave out the cilantro.

Tags chicken, coconut, Indian, kolhapuri, maharashtrian, masala, mutton, spicy, vegetarian