Ragda patties

Ingredients :
chole/ white watana (2 bowls)
turmeric (one fourth teaspoon)
chilli powder (one teaspoon)
asafoetida (1 pinch)
cumin powder (half teaspoon)
coriander powder (slightly less than half teaspoon)
tamarind paste
jaggery (if not already there in tamarind paste)
salt
chat masala
potatoes (3-4 middle sized potatoes)
2-3 bread slices / cornflour
green chillies (3-4)
garlic (2-3 cloves)
ginger (about 1 inch)
rava(sooji) / rice flour (as needed)
oil
onion (finely chopped)
tomato (finely chopped)
sev (fine sev)
coriander leaves

Procedure :

Ragda :
Soak the white watana/ chole overnight in water. Then add a pinch of turmeric to the white watana and cook it in a pressure cooker (allow for 2 - 3 whistles as they take quite some time to cook).
Heat some oil in a pan and fry some of the chopped onion in it. Then add a pinch of hing/asafoetida to the oil. Then add 1 teaspoon of red chilli powder, half teaspoon of cumin powder and slightly less than half tea spoon of coriander powder. Then add the cooked white watana to it. Add some tamarind paste and some jaggery (as per taste) to the ragda. Add half a teaspoon of salt (as per taste) to the mixture. Add some water, stir it and let it cook it. You can even add a half teaspoon to one teaspoon of chat masala to the ragda itself.

Patties :
Boil the potatoes till they become very soft. Shell them and smash them into a paste. Take 2 -3 bread slices , remove their hard edges and soak the soft bread into water. Squeeze the bread slices till the water drains out and then add it to the smashed potatoes. (This gives a slight hardness to the pattice, some people also use cornflour for this). Grind the green chillies, ginger and garlic into a paste.  Add the garlic paste to the smashed potato mixture, about one tea spoon of salt and mix them well. Roll them into small circular flat balls (or patties).Take some rava(sooji) or rice flour and cover these  patties with it. Then shallow fry them in a pan till they get a golden brown covering.

Serving :
Take the pattice and pour some ragda on them. Then add some tamarind sauce, some finely chopped onion and tomato, maybe a pinch of chat masala(if needed), and some fine sev, with coriander leaves on top of it and serve it hot.

aape

Ingredients :
   2 bowls rice
   1 bowl urid dal
   1/2 bowl chana dal
   1/4 bowl moong dal


Soak the above for about 3 hours and then grind it together (during grinding add a fistful of rice flakes). Soak it for about 12 hours and then when it ferments, add salt, green chillies, small pieces of ginger.

Then pour some oil in the 'aape patra' (vessel specifically used for aape). And then add the dough in it. The dough will rise as it gets cooked. With a pointed stick try to see if one side is brown. Once it is brown turn it and cook the other side.


The dough rising in the aape patra :

 Aape ready to eat :

Bhisibele bhath

Ingredients:
1bowl rice
3/4th bowl toor dal


Spices  :
1tablespoon chana dal
3/4th tblsp urid dal
1inch cinnamon
4cloves
1 tblsp coriander seeds
1 tea spoon black pepper
6 red chillies

Vegetables:
Onion
Potato
Beans
Carrots
Cauliflower
drumsticks

1.5 tblsp tamarind sauce
Peanuts and cashewnuts

Tadka:
Cumin seeds
asaefoetida
curry leaves
methi seeds (5-6 seeds)

Procedure :
 Boil rice and toor dal separately.
 Roast all the spices on low heat (preferably separately) and grind it into a coarse powder.
 Cut the vegetables into big pieces and fry it in oil till it is moderately cooked.
 Pour the tamarind sauce on the vegetables. Sprinkle the masala on the vegetables with a pinch of turmeric and coconut. And fry the vegetables nicely.  Mash the toor dal and add it to the vegetable mix. And then mash the rice and add it to the vegetables and mix it well.  Fry the peanuts and cashewnuts and add it to the mixture. Give tadka of fry Cumin seeds, asaefoetida, curry leaves and methi seeds .

Date and walnut cake

Maida - 120 gm
Sugar - 120 gm
Butter (white/unsalted) - 120gm
Seedles dates - 200gm
1 tablespoon - eating soda
1/2 tablepoon - baking powder
6 tablespoon - hot water
2 eggs
60 gm walnut


Procedure:
Mix dates, soda and water. Keep aside for 4 hours and then grind it in the mixer.
Mix maida and baking powder. Beat butter and sugar and add the date mixture and add beaten eggs.
Then add the maida mix to this and mix everything well. Cut the walnut into small pieces. Add 1/2 tablespoon maida and soda to walnuts. Mix half of the walnuts into the maida mixture and use the remaining half of the walnuts to garnish.

Idli & phutana dal chutney

This is more like a note to me because i keep on forgetting the proportion of ingredients while making idli.

IDLI :
  Urdid dal : 1 bowl  + about 3-4 spoons of poha(thick rice flakes)
  Idli rawa : 3 bowls (cold weather so proportion is : 1:3) or 4 bowls (hot weather, proportion : 1:4)
  Soak them separately and then grind the urid dal-poha mixture and mix it with the idli rawa. Add salt according to taste.
 Preheat the oven and keep the idli batter in the oven(after turning the oven off :P) for the time it takes the batter to rise (depending on weather it can take 1-2 days)


Phutana chutney :
  Ingredients :
  Phutana(1 bowl)
  Ginger (according to taste - about 1 teaspoon)
   Garlic (according to taste - added just a small clove to this one )
  Grated coconut ( 3 spoons)
  salt (according to taste)
 sugar (according to taste)
 green chillies(about 2 small ones)
 mustard seeds - 1/4th teaspoon
cumin seeds - 1/4th teaspoon
curry leaves - 3/4 leaves
hing / asafoetida - very very small pinch
red dried chilli - 1
oil - 1 tea spoon

Procedure :
Grind the phutana, grated coconut, salt , sugar and green chillies into a paste (make a thick paste by adding water).
In a pan, heat the oil and add the mustard and cumin seeds to it. Once the mustard seeds start popping  add asafoetida , curry leaves and red chilli to it. Then add this 'tadka' to the phutana paste and mix well. Also add some tamarind sauce for flavour.

Phutana chutney ready to eat :

Kakadi thalipeeth/ kakadi dosa

This is a breakfast item which has been a regular for my mom. I have been preparing them regularly here because all the ingredients are easily available. I think it is also called as 'tarsoli' (term applied to items prepared like a dosa)

Ingredient:
Cucumber (the zucchini variety)
upma rawa/semolina (
green peppers(1/2 depending on how hot you want it to be)
coriander (for garnishing)
sugar(about half spoon for 1 big zucchini)
salt (according to taste)

Method:
1. Grate the cucumber and mix semolina in it till it becomes a semi-soggy mixture
2. Add the green peppers, sugar and salt to the above mixture and mix it well in an electric mixer till it becomes a smooth thick paste
3. Now add some oil in a frying pan and spread the paste in the form of a thin layer on the frying pan.
4. Cover the frying pan for some minutes and keep it on low heat.
5. When one side turns a bit golden brown flip it and do the other side.

Can be served with green mint chutney or tomato sauce

Cucumber cake (or 'dhondas')

This is something which my mother has been making for us since our childhood and has been my favorite from that time. It may be made as a dessert but as kids we used to eat it as a kind of snack.It is a konkani/goan dish.

Ingredients :

• 1 Cucumber (the long and big one which generally has bigger seeds) 
• grated jaggery (roughly equivalent to the half the amount of grated cucumber)
• Rice rawa / idli rawa about the 3/4th as the grated cucumber. (even upma rawa can be used though it may not taste as good as rice rawa)
• salt (for taste, 1 pinch is generally enough)
• cashews and sliced almonds (for garnishing)
• ghee/unsalted butter (about 1 spoon)

Method :

• In a frying pan add 1 spoon of ghee/unsalted butter and  pour the rawa into it. Roast the rawa on medium heat till it turns light golden brown.
• Mix the grated cucumber and jaggery well and add a pinch of salt to the mixture.Add the roasted rawa to this mixture.
• Heat the mixture in a vessel (alternatively you can use the pressure cooker) till the jaggery all melts.
• Add the cashews and sliced almonds (you can also add some grated coconut if you like)
• In a baking pan apply a coat of ghee/unsalted butter and add the mixture to it . Add some more cashews and almonds as garnishing.
• Keep the baking pan in the oven (you can also use a normal microwave as it is not essential to grill this cake) and bake. Around 10 minutes time is generally sufficient. But, to be sure you can insert a knife or fork in the cake and see if it comes without anything sticking to it. This means that the cake is ready. Give it some time to cool off and your dessert is ready :)