MyMusingsSangSpeak - Pet Puja - Shepu chi Bhaji

Shepu chi Bhaji

Shepu is Dill in English, Sowa/Suva in Hindi and it is a favourite leafy vegetable in Maharashtra. In Persian and Oriental cuisines, it is used more as a herb for garnish. In Maharashtra, this vegetable is used in many ways, sometimes with just basic ingredients like garlic and green chillies and sometimes in combination with various pulses or gram flour.

Mostly, people do not like Shepu because of its strong aroma and flavour, even I hated it in my childhood. Things changed over a period of time and I love this vegetable now. The nutritional benefits of this vegetable are far too many to be ignored, so it is best to include it in your diet occasionally at least. I am sharing the basic recipe of Shepu Bhaji here.

Ingredients

Shepu (Dill) – 1 medium bunch

Moong Daal (Split Green Gram) – ½ cup

Garlic – 10-12 cloves

Green Chillies – 2

Oil – 1½ tablespoon

Salt – As per taste

Water – Approx ½ - ¾ cup

Method

Wash Shepu well and chop it fine, both leaves and tender stems. Soak Moong Daal in water for about 1 hour. Heat oil in a pan and add chopped green chillies and crushed garlic and saute for a minute. Add the chopped vegetable and soaked daal along with salt and mix well. Add water and cover with a lid and allow to cook for about 10 minutes. Check if the daal is cooked, it should have the crunch. Remove from fire and serve with chapati or Jowar roti.

MyMusingsSangSpeak - Pet Puja - Kothimbirichi Wadi

Kothimbirichi Wadi

Kothimbirichi Wadi is a tasty Maharashtrian snack full of nutrition. It is a simple recipe and you can make the rolls and store in fridge and fry them as and when required. For variations, one can use other leafy vegetables like Palak (Spinach), Methi (Fenugreek), Shepu (Dill) etc.

Ingredients

Coriander - 1 large bunch

Besan (Gram Flour) – 1½ cup or more

Turmeric Powder – ¼ teaspoon

Red Chilli Powder – ½ teaspoon

Cumin Powder – 1/2teaspoon

Sesame seeds – 1½ tablespoon
Jowar (Sorghum) Flour, (Optional) - 1 teaspoon
Rice Flour (Optional) - 1 teaspoon

Water – As per requirement

Salt – As per taste

Oil – For frying as per requirement

Method

 

Wash coriander leaves and chop very fine. Mix all ingredients well except oil and bind together with little water at a time to form a tight dough. Grease the pan to be used for steaming. Shape the dough into rolls and place in the greased pan and steam for about 10-12 minutes. Remove, cool and cut into thin slices and shallow fry in oil. Once the colour turns brown and crisp, remove and serve hot with chutney/sauce of your choice.

Note – The wadi can be made more flavourful by adding crushed garlic. Red chilli powder can be substituted with green chillies. Preparation time is about half hour approximately.
You can prepare wadi using leafy vegetables like Spinach, Fenugreek, Dill etc.

MyMusingsSangSpeak - Pet Puja - Mirchi cha Thecha

Mirchi cha Thecha (Crushed Chilli)

Mirchi cha Thecha is one essential Maharashtrian side dish, widely popular amongst Maharahtrians as well as Non-Maharashtrians. Thecha is a Marathi word meaning crush. The chilli which originated in Mexico, made a permanent home here in India and is an extensively used condiment. The staple agrarian diet in Maharashtra would be the humble combination of Jowar Bhakri, Pithala and Thecha along with onion.

Thecha can be prepared in a variety of ways, the most basic being green chillies fried and just crushed with salt and few garlic pods. Some people may add lime juice to it. Thecha is mostly eaten with uncooked oil. Some like to combine it with curds. Thecha can be made more flavourful with addition of groundnuts, dry coconut etc. My mother loved all kinds of Thecha, but the one with groundnuts and dry coconut was her favourite and, here, I am sharing this recipe.

Ingredients

Green Chillies – 4-5 nos

Oil – 1 teaspoon

Roasted groundnuts – ½ cup

Dry grated coconut – ½

Garlic – 9-10 cloves

Salt – As per taste

Method

Heat oil in a pan and fry the green chillies till they are just about done. Mix all the ingredients and grind coarsely in a mixer. Earlier, this used to be done manually in a pounder. Mirchi cha Thecha is ready for serving.

MyMusingsSangSpeak - Pet Puja - Ambat Chukya Chi Bhaji

Aambat Chukyachi Bhaji

Aambat Chuka is called Khatta Palak in Hindi and Green Sorrel in English. It is a sour leafy vegetable, with thick, juicy leaves and stems and is a good source of Vit C, Beta carotene, calcium, potassium and magnesium. This vegetable can be prepared individually or in combination with other leafy vegetables. Sometimes it is used in non-vegetarian recipes too. I always loved this vegetable for its unique sour taste. I have grown this vegetable in my kitchen garden when I was away from my home town and it grows quite easily and well too all round the year. Method of preparation of this vegetable is quite easy. The consistency of this recipe is semi liquid (Gargatti Bhaji in Marathi). It tastes heavenly with plain rice or Jowar (Sorghum) roti.

Ingredients

Ambat Chuka – 1 big bunch

Groundnuts – ½ cup

Chana Daal (Bengal Gram) – 2 tablespoons

Besan (Gram Flour) – 2 tablespoons

Curds (Optional)  – 1 tbsp

Water – 3-4 cups

Jaggery – 1 n ½ tablespoon

Turmeric Powder – ½ teaspoon

Salt – As per taste

Oil - 1 tablespoon

Ghee – 1 tablespoon

Green Chillies – 2-3 nos

Garlic – 10-12 cloves

Mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon

Method

Wash Ambat Chuka leaves and stems and chop about 1 cm in length. Soak groundnuts and daal in water for about an hour. Now take chopped leaves, soaked grounduts, daal in a stainless-steel vessel and add turmeric powder, salt, jaggery and approx. 3 cups of water. Pressure cook all these ingredients for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk well with hand. Add curd and besan and mix well. Cook this mixture on medium heat while stirring continuously for about 5-6 minutes. Now heat oil and ghee in a tempering vessel and add mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add chopped green chillies and crushed garlic and allow to heat for a minute. Add this tempering to the cooked vegetable. The Ambat Chuka vegetables is ready to be served.

Note – Cooking time is about half hour (plus one hour for soaking).

MyMusingsSangSpeak - Pet Puja - Banana Cake (Vegetarian) in Pressure Cooker

Banana Cake (Vegetarian) in Pressure Cooker

I am sharing a vegetarian banana cake recipe baked in pressure cooker and this is a tasty, soft, moist cake with delicious flavour. I followed this recipe on the net. We require ripe bananas in this recipe and the dash of cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla gives this cake that mouth-watering flavour.

 

Ingredients

Bananas – 2 ripened

Wheat Flour – 1 and ½ cup

Sugar – ½ cup

Oil – ½ cup

Milk – ½ cup

Salt – ½ teaspoon

Baking Powder – 1 teaspoon

Baking Soda – ½ teaspoon

Cinnamon Powder – ½ teaspoon

Nutmeg powder – ¼ teaspoon

Vanilla extract – ½ teaspoon

Method

Sieve together wheat flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda and set aside. Blend the bananas and sugar in a mixer. Now take the banana and sugar mixture in a bowl and add oil to it and mix well. Add the sifted wheat flour to this mixture gradually and fold in well. Finally add the milk and mix well. Preheat the pressure cooker and keep a separator in it. Grease the cake pan and pour the cake batter, keep it in the pre heated pressure cooker and cover with the lid (without the whistle) and bake on a medium flame for about 35-40 minutes. Insert a knife in the centre of the cake to check if the cake is done, the knife should come out clean surface, meaning the cake is done well.