MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja- Matkichi Usal

Matkichi Usal

Sprout Time – Matkichi Usal is very popular sprouted legume vegetable in Maharashtra. Matki(Moth in Hindi, Moth Bean or Dew Bean in English) is a very tasty legume, full of nutrition. It takes about a day for sprouting Matki and it tastes too good. Matki sprouts form a very important ingredient for the Kolhapuri Misal too.

 Ingredients

Matki – 250 gms

Water – 1 litre for soaking and about 1½ cups for cooking

Onions – 2 nos

Tomato – 1 no

Oil – 2 tablespoons

Mustard seeds – ½ teaspoon
Salt - To Taste

Kanda Lasun Masala – 1 teaspoon

Chopped Coriander Leaves – 2 teaspoons

Turmeric Powder – ½ teaspoon

Raw Groundnuts (optional) – 50gms

Curry Leaves – 10-12 nos

Kokum(Optional) -2-3 nos

Method

Clean matki and soak in water for about 7-8 hours minimum. Strain all water after 8 hours, and spread the matki on dry cloth to soak up all water. Tie the matki in a dry soft cloth and keep in a container and cover it. After about 7-8 hours, remove from the cloth, wash well and matki sprouts are ready for cooking. Chop onions and tomatoes fine. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add groundnuts. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add onions and fry till they turn transluscent. Now add the matki sprouts, turmeric powder, salt and stir well for about 2 minutes. Add a cup of water, cover with lid and allow to cook for about 10 minutes. Add kanda lasun masala, chopped tomato, coriander leaves and cook for 2 more minutes. Add water if required. Matki Usal is ready to be served and tastes best with Thalipeeth.

Note

The sprouting time may differ as per seasons. During summers, sprouting will be faster. In winters, you can keep the tied matki in a casserole so as to aid sprouting well.
You can sprout many other legumes too like green gram or green moong, red lentil or masoor and so on.
Kanda Lasun Masala -  It is like Kolhapuri Kala Masala, a mix of red chilly powder+garam masala+onion+garlic. You may use any good brand available in the market.

MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja - Doodhi Bhoplyachi Bhaji(Lauki ki Subji)

Doodhi Bhoplyachi Bhaji(Lauki ki Subji)

Lauki(Dudhiya, Doodhi Bhopla), Bottle Gourd in English, is a highly nutritious vegetable, rich in vitamins and minerals and one must include it in the diet for health benefits. Many people consume bottle gourd juice for medicinal benefits. You can prepare this vegetable in many ways in combination with pulses, groundnuts and also as koftas in curry. Desserts like lauki halwa and lauki kheer are also very popular. I am posting a very simple Maharshtrian recipe here.

 Ingredients

Doodhi Bhopla(Lauki, Dudhiya, Bottle Gourd) – 400 gms

Garlic Cloves- 10-12 nos

Coriander – 4-5 sprigs

Roasted Groundnut Powder – 1 cup

Turmeric Powder- ½ teaspoon

Kanda Lasun Masala/Red Chilly Powder – ½ teaspoon

Mustard Seeds – ½ teaspoon

Salt- To Taste

Oil- 2 tablespoons

Water – 2 cups

Method

Wash, peel and chop bottle gourd into cubes. Crush garlic coarsely. Wash coriander leaves and chop finely. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Once the mustard sedds splutter, add the chopped bottle gourd and stir for about a minute. Add salt and turmeric powder and stir well. Add one cup of water and cover with a lid and let it cook for about 4-5 minutes on medium flame. Now add crushed garlic, kanda lasun masala, chopped coriander and stir well for one minute. Then, add groundnut powder and one more cup of water and cook for 2 minutes on low flame. Keep stirring as groundnut powder sticks to the bottom and tends to burn. Once you see the oil separating, the vegetable is done. Doodhi Bhoplyachi Bhaji is ready to be served.

Note- 

Kanda Lasun Masala -  It is like Kolhapuri Kala Masala, a mix of red chilly powder+garam masala+onion+garlic. You get Pravin Company Kanda Lasun Masala(Ambaari Chaap) and many other companies too.  

MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja - Beans Carrot Aloo Subji

Beans Carrot Aloo Subji

This is one more mix vegetable recipe, stir fried and most easy to make. The combination of beans, carrot and potato tastes very good. The humble aloo(potato) goes well in combination with almost anything and everything. I use Kanda Lasun(Onion Garlic) Masala for majority of my recipes. Kanda Lasun Masala is an essential ingredient of Maharashtrian cuisine. It is a dry masala with red chilly powder plus spices(garam masala) along with onion and garlic. So also, groundnuts, you will see many vegetables having groundnuts in them in various forms. If Kanda Lasun Masala is not available, use red chilly powder instead. Here, I am using roasted groundnut powder.

Ingredients

French Beans- 250-300 gms

Carrots – 2 nos

Potato – 1 medium

Oil – 2 tablespoons

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

Kanda Lasun Masala/Red Chill Powder – ½ teaspoon

Mustard Seeds – ½ teaspoon

Roasted groundnut powder – 3/4^th – 1 cup

Salt – As per taste

Water – 2-3 tablespoons

Method

Wash all vegetables clean and chop the beans finely. Peel the carrots , remove the central core and chop finely. Peel potato and chop finely. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add potato pieces and stir well for a minute, lower the heat and let the potato cook for about 2 minutes. Keep stirring continuously, then, add beans and carrot, turmeric and salt.

If you feel water is required only then add just a little, otherwise the vegetables will cook even without water. After cooking for about 3-4 minutes, add kanda lasun masala, groundnut powder and stir well. Groundnut powder burns at the base of the pan, so constant stirring is required. Beans carrot aloo subji is ready to be served.

Note

In place of roasted groundnut powder, you may use fresh grated coconut.
Kanda Lasun Masala -  It is like Kolhapuri Kala Masala, a mix of red chilly powder+garam masala+onion+garlic. You get Pravin Company Kanda Lasun Masala(Ambaari Chaap) and many other companies too.  

MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja - Aloo Simla Mirchi Subji

Aloo Simla Mirchi Subji

Aloo Simla Mirchi Subji is one easy stir fry recipe to make. It tastes good too. Capsicums are generally stuffed with boiled potato stuffing. My mother stuffed capsicums with mutton kheema. Capsicums are healthy and nutritious too. I use Kanda Lasun(Onion Garlic) Masala for majority of my recipes. Kanda Lasun Masala is an essential ingredient of Maharashtrian cuisine. It is a dry masala with red chilly powder plus spices(garam masala) along with onion and garlic. So also, groundnuts, you will see many vegetables having groundnuts in them in various forms. Here, I am using roasted groundnut powder.If Kanda Lasun Masala is not available, use red chilly powder plus garam masala instead. 

Ingredients

Green Capsicums (Simla Mirchi) – 3 nos(medium sized)

Potato – 1 no (large)

Oil – 2 tablespoons

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

Kanda Lasun Masala/Red Chilly Powder – ½ teaspoon

Mustard Seeds – ½ teaspoon

Roasted groundnut powder – 3/4^th cup

Salt – As per taste

Water – 2-3 tablespoons

Method

Peel potatoes and cut them into small cubes, wash capsicum and cut these also finely. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add potato pieces and stir well for a minute, lower the heat and let the potato cook for about 2 minutes. Keep stirring continuously, then, add capsicum, turmeric and salt. If you feel water is required only then add just a little, otherwise the vegetables will cook even without water. After cooking for about 3-4 minutes, add kanda lasun masala, groundnut powder and stir well. Groundnut powder burns at the base of the pan, so constant stirring is a must. Aloo Simla Mirchi Subji is ready to be served.

Note

You may add half onion and 5-6 crushed garlic cloves along with potato. This will help to give the taste of kanda lasun masala. 

Kanda Lasun Masala - it is like Kolhapuri kala masala, a mix of red chilly powder+garam masala+ onion+garlic. You get Pravin Company  kanda lasun masala, also Ambari Chhaap. I use Pravin Kanda Lasun Masala.

MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja - Veg Butter Masala

Veg Butter Masala

Veg Butter Masala is a vegetarian equivalent of butter chicken. You can add a wide range of vegetables as per availability to this dish including cauliflower, green peas, beans, carrots, sweet corn, baby corn, capsicum, mushrooms and so on. If you have even four of the mentioned vegetables it is fine. The exotic vegetables are optional. I generally make veg butter masala with cauliflower, carrots, green peas and beans. Some people do not like capsicums so you may avoid them. Some people are allergic to mushrooms, so you can replace it with cottage cheese. You can make Paneer Butter Masala too in the same fashion, replace vegetables with paneer(cottage cheese). You can mix and match the vegetables as per your choice and taste.

Ingredients

Cauliflower – 75 gms

Green Peas – 100 gms

Carrots – 75 gms

French Beans – 75 gms

Baby corn – 50 gms

Sweet corn – 100 gms

Capsicum – 50 gms

Onions – 2 nos, medium sized

Tomatoes- 2 nos, medium sized

Ginger Garlic Paste – 1 and 1/2 teaspoon

Cashewnuts – 20 nos

 Milk Cream – 1 cup

Garam Masala Powder –  ½ teaspoon

Red Chilly Powder – ½ teaspoon

Tomato Ketchup – 1 teaspoon

Sugar – 1 teaspoon

Butter – 2 tablespoons

Water – 2 cups

Salt – As per taste 

 

Method

Wash all vegetables and chop fine except green peas. Make a paste of onions and keep aside. Make a paste of tomatoes and cashews and keep aside. Heat butter/oil in a pan and add onion paste and fry till it becomes light brown, then add ginger garlic paste and fry for about 2 minutes. After this, add the tomato cashew paste and stir well for about 2-3 minutes. Add garam masala, red chilly powder, salt, sugar, tomato ketchup and stir well for 2- 3 minutes. Then add all the vegetables, stir well and add milk cream and a cup of water. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes on medium flame. Stir occasionally and add water if required. Veg butter masala is ready to be served and goes well with roti, chapatti or nan.

Note- This quantity is sufficient approximately for 4 persons. If you wish to make the dish more spicy, you can increase the quantity of chilly powder and garam masala. In restaurants, most places, a dash of kasoori methi(dried fenugreek) is added to these preparations.If you want to cut down on calories, you may use double quantity of milk in place of cream.
For Garam Masala, please refer to http://mymusings-sangita.blogspot.in/2015_01_01_archive.html

MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja - Butter Chicken

Butter Chicken

Butter Chicken- the most sought after chicken dish, again a famous dish of the Punjabi cuisine. It is my daughter’s favourite and I have arrived at a recipe of my own after a lot of trials, errors and experimentation, maybe not a very authentic one. In most of the hotels, you will get butter chicken with tandoori chicken pieces in it. I do not put tandoori chicken pieces but cook chicken in masala. So, here is my recipe for butter chicken, hope you all enjoy and relish it too. Earlier, I used food colour too, but, nowadays refrain from doing so.

Ingredients

Chicken (broiler) – 1 kg with bones

Onions – 4 medium sized

Tomatoes – 2 medium sized

Ginger Garlic Paste – 2 teaspoons

Cashewnuts – 20-25 nos

Milk Cream- 1 cup

Garam Masala Powder- 1 teaspoon

Red Chilly Powder – 1 teaspoon

Sugar – 1 teaspoon

Tomato Ketchup – 1 tablespoon

Bay Leaves (Tezpatta) – 2-3 nos

Big cardamoms- 2-3 nos

Kalonji (onion seeds or caraway seeds) – ½ teaspoon

Ghee/Oil – 3 tablespoons

Salt – As per taste

Charcoal (optiona) - One piece

Water – 2- 3 cups

Kasoori Methi(optional) – 1 teaspoon

Method

Wash chicken and set aside. Make a paste of onions and keep aside. Make a paste of tomatoes and cashews and keep aside. Heat oil in a pan and temper with bay leaves, big cardamoms and kalonji. Then add onion paste and fry till it becomes light brown, then add ginger garlic paste and fry for about 2 minutes. After this, add the tomato cashew paste and chicken and stir well for about 2-3 minutes. Add garam masala, red chilly powder, salt, sugar, tomato ketchup and stir well for 2- 3 minutes. Finally add milk cream and give a good stir. Add one cup of hot water, cover and cook on medium flame for about 12-15 minutes. Check occasionally and stir once in a while as cashew paste tends to burn at bottom. If required add more warm water.

If you wish to give tandoor taste to the butter chicken, then heat the charcoal piece on gas flame and once it turns red hot, place it in a small bowl. Pour a teaspoon of ghee over the hot charcoal and immediately place this bowl on top of the chicken in the pan and cover the pan. The chicken will get a smoky flavour. If you wish you may add kasoori methi to the prepared chicken if you like its flavour.

Butter chicken tastes good with any kind of roti, naan and bread.

Note - This quantity is sufficient for 5-6 persons. If you like less spice, use less quantity of chilly powder and garam masala. You can choose to make low calorie variant of butter chicken  by using skimmed milk(triple quantity of cream)  to replace cream. For vegetarians, you can substitute chicken by paneer to make Butter Paneer Masala.
For Garam Masala, please refer to http://mymusings-sangita.blogspot.in/2015_01_01_archive.html

MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja - Palak Paneer

Palak Paneer

Palak Paneer is one famous recipe of North Indian Punjabi cuisine. It is quite easy to make this one and tastes good with tandoor roti or phulka or chapati. You can use homemade cottage cheese (paneer) or the one that is readily available in market.

Ingredients

Palak(Spinach) – 1 bunch(approx 400 gms)

Paneer(cottage cheese) – 250 gms

Onions – 2 medium

Tomato – 1 large

Ginger -1 inch piece

Green Chillies – 2 nos

Cinnamon Powder – ¼ teaspoon

Garam Masala Powder – 1 teaspoon

Cinnamon whole- 2 pieces

Cumin Seeds – ½ teaspoon

Ghee – 2 teaspoons

Cream- 2-3 teaspoons (optional)

Salt – As per taste

Method

Wash spinach leaves well and chop them (about an inch long). Boil the chopped spinach leaves in water for about 2-3 minutes. Remove the water by straining and allow cold water to run over it. Once the leaves cool down, blend them in a mixer to form a smooth puree/paste. Set aside this paste. Make a paste of onions and keep aside. Grind ginger, green chillies and tomato and keep this paste aside. Cut the paneer(cottage chesse) into cubes and fry very lightly in non stick pan in little ghee and set aside. Heat ghee in a pan and temper with cinnamon and cumin seeds. Now add the onion paste and sauté lightly till onion turns a golden brown. Now add the tomato, ginger, chilly paste and stir well for 2 minutes. To this add the spinach puree and cook for 2- 3 minutes. Add salt, cinnamon powder and garam masala powder and stir well. After a minute, add paneer cubes and let it cook for 2 minutes. Finally, add cream and palak paneer is ready to be served.

MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja - Mutton Pulao

Mutton Pulao

Mutton Pulao was one of the many signature dishes of my Mom. Generally, this was a Sunday Special in our house. The vegetarian variant that she cooked was the Mattar(Green Peas) Pulao. We all in the family relished both these dishes.

Ingredients

Meat – 750 gms( preferably forelimb), about 1 inch sized pieces

Onions- 5 nos, medium sized

Ginger, garlic, coriander paste – 2 tablespoons

Turmeric Powder – 1 teaspoon

Oil – 2 tablespoon

Pure Ghee – 2 tablespoon

Rice – 2 and half cups

Garam Masala Powder – 1 teaspoon

Green Chillies – 2-3 nos

Salt – As per Taste

Whole Garam Masala spices – 2-3 Bay leaves, 2-3 Big Cardamoms, 3-4 Cloves, 2 inch Cinnamon Pieces, 3-4 Black Pepper

Water – Approx one and half litre

Oil – Half cup for frying onions

Method

Make paste of two onions and set aside. Slice two onions lengthwise and deep fry till crisp and golden brown, set these aside for garnish. The fifth onion needs to be cut lengthwise and set aside. Heat oil in pressure cooker and add the onion paste to it. Fry the onion paste till it turns light brown and then add meat pieces to it, stir well, add ginger, garlic, coriander paste and stir well. Add turmeric powder, salt to this and stir for about 3-4 minutes. Now add about a litre of boiling hot water to the meat and pressure cook for about 15 – 20 minutes. Keep aside this cooked meat.

Wash rice and set aside. Heat ghee in a pan, add whole garam masala and sliced onion and stir fry till onion turns golden brown. Add slit green chillies and washed rice and stir well. Add garam masala powder and cooked meat along with the soup. If more water is required to cook rice, only then add extra water. Check salt and add if required. Bring to a boil. Cover with lid and pressure cook for about 10 minutes on medium to low flame. Allow the pressure to release and then garnish with fried onion. Serve with meat curry or gravy of your choice.

MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja - Methi Malai Mattar

Methi Malai Mattar

 Methi Malai Mattar is exotic,creamy, finger licking peparation  and tastes very nice with plain roti or parathas.

Ingredients 

Methi(Fenugreek) Leaves – 2 cups

Green Peas – 2 cups

Onions – 2 nos

Ginger – 1 inch piece

Garlic- 10-12 cloves

Green Chillies – 2 nos

Milk cream – 1 cup

Cashews – 15 nos

Garam Masala Powder - 1 teaspoon

Oil – 2 tablespoons

Salt – to taste

Method 

Wash Methi leaves thoroughly and stir fry in very little oil for about 3 minutes and set aside. Make a paste of onions and set aside. Grind ginger, garlic and green chilly together and keep aside. Make a paste of cashews and set aside. Heat oil in a pan, add onion paste and sauté till light golden brown. Now add ginger, garlic, chilly paste and stir fry for another 2 minutes. Now add the green peas and salt and cook for about 4-5 minutes by covering with a lid. Then add the sautéed Methi leaves and stir well. Add garam masala, cream and cashew paste and stir well. Cook for about 2-3 minutes and Methi Malai Mattar is ready to serve.

MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja - Tandlichi Bhaji(Choulai ki Subji)

Tandalichi Bhaji(Choulai ki Subji)

Green vegetables play a very important role in Maharashtrian cuisine. There are some Maharshtrian households that have green leafy vegetables on daily basis. There are many varieties of green vegetables available – Methi(Fenugreek), Palak(Spinach), Tandali/Choulai(Amaranth), Rajgira( Amaranth species), Ambadi(Gongura), Kardi(Safflower), Kandyachi Paat(Spring Onions), Shepu(Dill), Aambat Chuka(Green Sorrel), Aluchi Paane or Arbi Patta(Arum Leaves)and so on. Green leafy vegetables are of high nutritional value as they contain many vitamins and minerals.

Most of the green vegetables are prepared in a very simple manner, just stir fried with garlic and green chillies. Sometimes, onions or roasted groundnut powder are added and sometimes it may be of thick gravy consistency, wherein gram flour (besan) is used to thicken and homogenize. Various daals (split pulses) are also used in combination with different leafy vegetables.

Leafy vegetables need to be cleaned properly, sometimes you may take only leaves in a recipe and sometimes you may take the tender stalks too. Many people tend to get lazy as these vegetables require a lot of cleaning and hence, do away with them in the diet. Let me emphasize here that despite all the cleaning efforts involved, the health benefits outweigh everything and one must include these in their daily diet.

Tandali is one of my favourites and it tastes best with Jwarichi Bhakri(Jowar or Sorghum ki Roti).

Ingredients

Tandali (Choulai, Amaranth) – 2 bunches, nicely cleaned and washed thoroughly

Garlic cloves – 13 -14 nos

Green Chillies – 2-3

Oil- 1-2 tablespoons

Salt – As per taste

Method

Heat oil in a pan. Add crushed garlic and chopped chillies. Add Tandali leaves and stir well. Add salt and stir well for 2- 3 minutes. Allow to cook on low flame for another 2-3 minutes till water nearly dries up. Tandlichi Bhaji is ready to be served.

MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja- Fish Fry

Fish Fry

Fish can be fried in many ways, either it can be deep fried or shallow fried. Every place or household has a typical way of marinating fish. The fish needs to be marinated well with right amount of spices and flavouring so that it does not lose its original taste. My mother liked minimum flavouring so most of the time she marinated fish only with salt, turmeric and chilly powder and shallow fried with little oil and the taste still lingers on. I relish marine fish more than freshwater varieties. I have been in many places where marine fish is not readily available, so I started cooking the freshwater varieties like Rohu, Catla, Seelan, Singhada etc too. You may use a variety of marinades as per taste and choice.
While buying fish do take care to buy good quality, well stored products. Fish is generally not eaten in the months that do not have "R" in their spelling(May, June, July, August), reason being that fish spawn during this season. Another reason is that seas are quite choppy and the fishermen do not go to the sea, it is only after offering coconut on occasion of "Narali Pournima"(approximately Mid August), that fishing restarts.

Ingredients

Sole (Seelan) Fish – 500 gms (deboned and cut into 3 inch sized pieces)

Turmeric Powder – ½ teaspoon

Chilly Powder – 1 teaspoon

Salt – As per taste

Ginger garlic coriander paste –1½teaspoon

Lemon Juice – 2 teaspoons

Rice flour – 2 tablespoons

Gram flour – 2 tablespoons

Oil – half cup

Method

Mix turmeric, chilly, salt, lemon juice and garic ginger coriander paste well and apply this marinade paste to the fish pieces. Refrigerate the marinated fish pieces for 1-2 hours so that the marinade is absorbed well. For the coating, mix together rice and gram flours and add a pinch of salt, turmeric and chilly powder to this mixture. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan and coat the fish pieces in the coating mixture and shallow fry by turning sides alternately till done. Shallow frying needs to be done on medium flame so that the coating becomes crispy and fish is cooked well. Once frying is done, remove the fish on paper to drain out the excess oil. Serve with tomato sauce, green chutney or tamarind chutney. Accompaniments can be rice and solkadhi.

Note –

For the tangy taste, you can use tamarind or kokum in place of lemon juice. In Bengal, mustard paste is used to marinate fish. If you like green chilly, you may use it in place of red chilly powder. If you want the fried fish to be more flavourful, then add a pinch of cumin and coriander powders.

MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja- SolKadhi

Solkadhi

Solkadhi, rather Soulkadhi is a tasty, tangy, digestive recipe of Konkan and Goan coastal cuisine. It is made of fruit of Kokum plant(Garcinia Indica), indigenous species of Western Ghats, India. Kokum is called Ratamba in Marathi. This recipe is an essential side dish of vegetarian as well as non vegetarian platter and tastes very well with fish recipes specially. Kokum fruit is extremely sour and has medicinal as well as digestive properties. The kokum fruit is available in the market in its fresh or dried form. Fresh kokum is available only during a particular season. You also get pure kokum extract and a sweetened extract as well. I am using dried kokum for my recipe of solkadhi. The kokum are dried along with salt as preservative so you need to keep a watch while adding salt.  Cumin powder addition is my variation.

Ingredients

Dried Kokum – 15-20 nos

Fresh coconut (grated) – 2 cups

Garlic cloves – 10-12 nos

Cumin Powder – 1 teaspoon

Green Chillies – 2-3 nos

Salt – As per taste

Water – As per requirement

Corinader leaves – 1 teaspoon

Method

Soak Kokum in about a cup of warm water. Blend the fresh grated coconut in a blender with water and extract coconut milk by straining through a strainer. You can get about 5 cups of coconut milk from 2 cups grated coconut. Grind the chillies and garlic and add to the coconut milk. Crush the soaked kokum with hands and strain the liquid thorugh a strainer. Mix it with coconut milk. Add cumin powder and salt. Finally garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve solkadhi slightly chilled. This is uncooked recipe and hence needs to be consumed fresh and cannot be stored for long.

Note
You can use tinned coconut milk that is readily available nowadays. Dry coconut milk powder is also available which can be rehydrated and used, but, the taste of fresh coconut milk is unbeatable.

MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja - Bread Rolls

Bread Roll

Another favourite bread snack, the bread rolls, yummy and one could just go on eating. Health conscious people, please give this one a miss. I learned to make bread rolls in our cooking class in school, the recipe was taught by Mrs Lazarus, and the filling was that of coconut chutney with sweet sour flavouring. My mom made bread rolls using mutton kheema stuffing. I use the most basic filling, that of the humble aloo(potato) subji. 

Ingredients

Bread Slices – 10 nos

Potatoes – 5-6 medium sized

Onions – 2 medium

Green chillies – 3-4 nos

Curry leaves – 10-12 nos

Asafoetida – A pinch

Cumin seeds – ½ teaspoon

Mustard Seeds – ½ teaspoon

Turmeric Powder - ½ teaspoon

Ginger, garlic, coriander paste – 1 teaspoon

Chopped Coriander Leaves – 2 tablespoons

Lemon Juice - 1 teaspoon

Sugar -1 teaspoon

Salt – As per Taste

Oil (for Subji) – 2 tablespoons

Oil (for frying) – 2 cups approx

Water - for soaking bread slices

 Method

 Boil the potatoes, peel and slice fine. Heat oil in a pan, temper it with asafoetida, curry leaves, mustard and cumin seeds and chopped green chillies. Add chopped onion and stir fry till it becomes slightly golden brown. Add ginger, garlic, coriander paste, potatoes, turmeric powder, salt, sugar, lemon juice and mix well. Cover with lid for about 2 minutes and finally add chopped coriander leaves. Remove from fire and set it aside.

Take water in a plate or broad based utensil. Dip one bread slice in water at a time, place it between both palms and squeeze out the extra water. Take a spoonful of the aloo subji and place it in the centre of the slice and close from all sides to make it into a roll. Make all the rolls and set aside. Heat oil in a pan till it is smoky hot, lower the flame and fry the bread rolls till they turn an even golden brown from all sides. Remove the bread rolls on paper to remove excess oil and serve with green chutney or tomato sauce.

Note

Variations could be filling of many kinds like sweet corn plus cheese, chicken kheema or vegetables of your choice.

MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja - Bread Poha

Bread Pohe/Upma/Chiwda

Bread Pohe/Upma/Chiwda or Phodnicha Bread is a breakfast or teatime snack, easy to make and tastes good too. This is similar to phodnichi chapati or bhakri(chapatiche/bhakriche tukde, snack made of leftover chapatis or bhakris). This snack is my daughter’s favourite.

Ingredients

Bread – 10-12 slices

Onion – 1 large

Tomato – 1 small

Green chillies – 1 or 2

Curry Leaves – 10-12 nos

Coriander leaves – 5-6 sprigs

Oil – 2 tablespoons

Turmeric Powder – ¼ teaspoon

Red Chilly Powder - ¼ teaspoon

Cumin seeds – ½ teaspoon

Mustard seeds - ½ teaspoon

Salt- As per taste

Sugar – ½ teaspoon

Lemon Juice – 1 tablespoon

Roasted groundnut powder (Optional) – 1-2 tablespoons

Method

Powder the bread slices coarsely in a grinder/mixer. Heat oil in a pan and add cumin and mustard seeds. Once the seeds splutter, add chopped green chillies, curry leaves and chopped onion. Stir for 2-3 minutes till onion turns a light golden brown and then add coarsely powdered bread. Add turmeric, red chilly powder, salt,sugar and lemon juice and stir well. Keep on a low flame for about 7-8 minutes and stir occasionally, this way the bread poha will become crunchy. Now add chopped toamto and stir for a minute. Finally, add groundnut powder and chopped coriander leaves, stir for about 2-3 minutes and bread poha is ready to be served.

Note- Serves 2-3 persons.