Chocolate Popcorn

Ingredients :

• 1 tbsp Oil
• 1 cup of popcorn (kernels, un-popped)
• 1 tsp Butter
• 10-12 piece of Chocolate chips ( i have used Dairy Milk)
• 2 Tsp Milk

Method :

In a medium pan pour the tablespoon of oil and heat over medium heat.

 When oil is hot, throw in popcorn.  Make sure all of the kernels are touching the bottom of the pan.

 Cover the pan and wait until you hear kernels start to pop.  Once they start, grab the pan with one hand and grab an oven mitt or towel and hold down the lid.

 Pick up the pan and start to shake until all for a few moments.  Return pan to the stove and repeat a few times. It takes some coordination, but it’s way easy and this way you won’t have any unpopped kernels and the popcorn won’t be burnt. When the popcorn is done, turn off the heat and set aside. 

In a double boiler, or just a glass mixing bowl over boiling water, put chocolate chips , butter and milk and Stir until melted.

 Pour the popcorn in a mixing bowl and add the melted chocolate.  Grab a wooden spoon and gently stir in the chocolate, ensuring that all of it is covered in chocolate.

Then spread the chocolate popcorn out on a baking sheet. Let it sit for 3-4 hrs or until dry and then put in airtight container until ready to serve.

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Sabudana Vada / Sago Vada

Ingredients :

• 1/2 cup sago (sabudana)
  
  
• 1 cup boiled and mashed potatoes 
• 1/2 tsp or as reqd red chilli powder 
• 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• salt to taste

Method :
Wash the sabudana. Drain and keep aside for about 4 hours. If necessary, sprinkle a little water to moisten the sabudana.

Mix the sabudana along with all the other ingredients and knead lightly to form a soft dough.

Divide the mixture into equal portions. Shape each portion into a round and flatten slightly.

Deep-fry the vadas in hot oil until they are golden brown in colour and drain on absorbent paper.Serve hot with curd or green chutney.

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Gobi Lollipop

Ingredients :

• Cauliflower florets with long steam- 14 piece
• 1/4 cup Maida/ All purpose flour
• 1/4 cup Corn flour
• 2 tbsp Rice flour
• 1 tbsp Ginger and Garlic paste
• 1 tsp Red chilli powder
• 1 tsp Lemon juice
• A pinch of Ajinomoto
• A pinch of Cooking soda/ Baking soda
• Little Red food color ( optional)
• Salt to taste
• Water as required
• Oil to deep fry. 

Method :

 

Add cauliflower florets to the boiling water and cook until half done. Drain the half cooked cauliflower florets, pat dry and set aside.

 

 

In a bowl combine ginger and garlic paste, red chilli powder, lemon juice, ajinomoto, red food color. Mix everything well and to this mixture add maida flour, cornflour, rice flour, cooking soda, salt and few tbsp water. 

Again mix everything well to get smooth and lump free batter( like bajji/ pakora batter). 

 

Heat oil in a pan to deep fry, when oil is hot take a cauliflower floret, hold the long stem and dip completely in prepared batter and drop it into hot oil. 

 

Do the same with rest of cauliflower florets and deep fry them until crispy and golden brown. 

 

Cover the cauliflower florets long stem with foil paper and serve hot.

 

 

 

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Instant Methi Corn Aappe

Ingredients :

• 2 Cup Sweet Corn
• 1 Cup Rawa
• 2 Green Chillies
• 1/2 Cup Methi Leaves ( Fenugreek )
• 1/2 Cup Coriander Leaves
• 1/4 Spoon Garlic Paste
• Pinch of Eno
• Salt to taste

Method
In a mixie, crush together green chilies and corn till smooth paste.Add salt, rawa, garlic paste in it and mix. Add finely chopped methi leaves and coriander leaves to this mixture and mix.Add Eno and if required little water and make batter by mixing well.

Heat the aappe pan and sprinkle drop of oil in the pan and pour in spoon of batter in each appe cup.

Cook the appe till they become brown, flip and let it cook till the other side browns too, serve hot with coconut chutney or tomato sauce.

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Kothimbir Wadi

Yet one more favorite Maharashtrian snack is the Kothimbir Vadi. Kothimbir is the Marathi word for coriander leaves.

Ingredients:
1/2 packed cups Coriander Leaves, finely chopped 
1 cup Gram Flour/Besan
3-4 Green Chillies, finely chopped 
4-5 Garlic cloves, finely chopped

¼ cup roasted crushed peanuts
1 Tsp Sugar
2 Tbsp Oil
Salt to Taste
1-2 Cup or as required Water

Method:

Heat Pan/ Kadai.Add oil and wait till it gets heated.Now add chopped garlic and green chillies to it.

Add water, Sugar and Salt .Once it boils add gram flour, crushed peanuts and chopped coriander leaves and stir vigorously.
 

 If you stop stirring lumps can be formed.Stir until mixture becomes thick.Mixture should become nicely thick.It will take approx 8-10 min.

 

  

Grease one plate  with oil and pour batter into it. Spread it evenly. Let it cool properly before you un-mould it.

 Cut it into desired shapes. Now you can either serve it as it is or continue with next step.

Heat oil in a pan and Shallow or Deep Fry on both sides till they turn golden brown and crisp.
Serve these Kothimbir Vadis as snacks with any chutney or tomato sauce or as side dish with Rice and Dal and enjoy. 

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Biscuit Sandwich Pakora

Ingredients :

For the filling:

• 2 medium size boiled potatoes
• 1 tspn green chili, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro/coriander leaves
• 1 tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
• 2 tspn raisins
• 1 tspn roasted groundnuts
• Salt to taste

For the outer crisp coating:

• 2 cups besan (chick pea flour/gram flour)
• 1 cup cornflour
• a pinch of hing
• 1/4 tspn red chili powder
• water
• salt
• vermicelli  or crushed cornflakes

And 8-10 Marie Biscuits and oil for frying.


Method :
Peel the boiled potatoes. The potatoes should be boiled really well. Mash the potatoes when they are still warm.Add the coriander leaves, green chili,ginger-garlic paste,raisins, ground nuts and salt to the mashed potatoes.Mix these with the mashed potatoes. Check the seasonings and adjust accordingly. Keep aside.

Preparing the besan batter:
In a bowl, take the besan (chick pea flour/gram flour) and cornflour.Add the red chili powder, asafoetida and salt.Add around 1/2 cup water and mix. .The batter should not be very thick nor too thin. Check the seasonings and adjust accordingly.Add a few drops of oil to the batter and mix well.Keep the ready batter aside.

Assembling and Frying the Biscuit Pakora:
Before you do the following steps, heat up some oil for deep frying the pakoras.Take 2 tbsp of the mashed potato mixture and apply it on the biscuit evenly.Cover this potato stuffed biscuit with another biscuit . I choose to keep it plain. But if you want, you can apply the same green mint coriander chutney or tomato sauce or sweet chaat chutney to this second biscuit .You have now a beautiful biscuit sandwich. Just slightly press the sandwich. Take the entire sandwich in your hand and dip it in the besan batter.Coat the stuffed biscuit sandwich evenly with the besan batter. Be gentle with the pakoras. Take care not to keep the stuffed biscuit sandwich a long time in the batter as the biscuit tends to break.Coat pakoras with vermicelli or cornflakes. By now, your oil is hot and you can easily slid the besan batter coated biscuit sandwich in the oil.Fry the biscuit pakoras on a medium flame till they are crisp and golden brown.Drain on a tissue.Serve them hot or warm with tomato sauce or with any chutney of your choice,  or even coconut chutney. .Enjoy the bread pakodas in the rains with a cup of indian ginger chai or masala chai.

 

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Moong Daal Bhaji / Pakoda

Ingredients :

• 1 cup moong daal(yellow) ( green gram)
• 2-3 finally chopped green chilies
• 1/2 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
• 1/4 tablespoon mango powder
• Some chopped coriander leaves
• Salt to taste

Method :
First wash moong daal and soak it in the water for 3-4 hours.Take it out from water. Mis all other ingredients with daa and grind the mixture Deep fry on medium heat to golden brown.Fry slowly so that you will get crispy moong pakode.Serve hot with tamrind or pudina (mint)chatni.

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Spicy Appe / Spicy Appam

Ingredients :

• 1/4 cup urad dal
• 3/4 cup rice
• 1-2 Tsp Coriander-Green chillies-Ginger Paste
• Oil for frying
• Salt to taste

Method :
Soak rice and dal separately for 3-4 hours. Grind them separately to a smooth paste and keep in different containers. Allow it to ferment for 10-12 hours. Mix both the batter together, add salt , add Coriander-Green chillies-Ginger Paste and mix well. Heat Appe Maker and add some oil to all the moulds. Now Half fill the moulds with batter and prepare appam by cooking on both sides.
Serve hot with coconut chutney.

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Sabudana Khichdi

Ingredients :

• 1 cup Sabudana / Sago (medium size pearls) wash, drain and soaked overnight
• 1/2 cup coarsely pound roasted peanuts
• 1-2 Tsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp ghee
• 1 Tbsp Fresh Grated Coconut
• 1 Tsp cumin seeds
• 3-4 green chillis, finely chopped
• salt to taste

Method :
Wash the sago thoroughly, drain off the water and let it stand over night. Next day morning, run your fingers through the sago pearls and loosen the lumps if any. The sago should appear clear, translucent, swelled up and separate pearls.Combine coarsely pounded roasted peanuts, sugar and salt to the sago and keep aside.Heat  ghee in kadai ,once hot, add cumin seeds and let them brown a bit. Add the chopped green chillies and suate for 2 minutes.Finally add the sago-peanut mixture and combine well with the seasoning on low heat and Then add coocnut and toss the sago mixture continuously for 8-9 minutess. Serve hot.

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Alu Vadi

Ingredients :

• 5-6 colocassia leaves (Alu chi pane in Marathi)
• 1/2 cup gram flour
• 1/4 cup rice flour (for crispiness)
• 1 Tsp ginger-garlic paste
• 2 Tsp black maharashtrian masala or garam masala
• 1 Tsp tamarind paste
• 2 Tsp jaggery or sugar
• 1 Tbsp white sesame seeds
• 1 Tsp turmeric powder
• 1-2 Tsp chili powder
• 1/4 Tsp asafoetida
• Salt to taste
• Oil for frying

Method :


Remove stems and wash colocassia leaves. Drain and wipe off the excess water.Mix gram flour and rice flour. Add sesame seeds, black masala, tamarind paste. jaggery, chili powder, ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder, asafoetida, salt and water to make a thick paste.Spread the paste on one leaf,spread some sesame seeds, put another leaf on it and again spread some paste on it , the sesame seeds. Like this arrange all the leaves one above the other with the layer of paste in between them.

Wrap the leaves tightly and make a roll. Tie it with a thread if required.Steam cook alu vadi for about 25 minutes.

Remove and insert a toothpick or knife into the roll to check the doneness. If the toothpick comes out clean, the roll is cooked. Let cool and slice.Heat oil in a deep frying pan. Deep fry the pieces in hot oil. Or shallow fry them on a flat griddle. Remove when golden brown and crisp. 

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Shahi Tukda

Ingredients:

• 6 slices Bread
• 2 Tbsp Ghee
• 1 cup Full Cream Milk
• 2-3 Tbsp chopped Pista, almonds
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1/4 cup Water
• 1 Cardamom powder
• Few strands of saffron


Method :
Cut bread slices diagonally to form 2 triangles. Keep the bread aside for about 2 hours, so that it becomes hard. Now  To make the sugar syrup, mix sugar and water and set the mixture to boil. Now, simmer the solution for about 10 minutes and add powdered elachi into it. Take a pan and set the milk to boil.Add chopped pistas and almonds pieces, 3-4 tsp sugar. Simmer it until it reduces to 1/4th quantity. Simultaneously, keep stirring occasionally so that it does not stick to the pan. Add few strands of saffron to the thickened milk. Now Apply ghee on the sides of the bread and lightly fry/roast them until they turn golden brown on both sides. Arrange the fried bread on a plate. Pour the sugar syrup onto the bread and wait until it seeps down. Now, spread the milk mixture onto the bread and sprinkle some almonds, pista and saffron strands over it. Freeze it and serve when it is chill!

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Sooji Pakoda / Rawya chi Bhaji

Pakoda / Pakora is a fried snack (fritter) found across South Asia.

Ingredients :

• 2 Cups Sooji Rava (Semolina)
• 3 Cups Yogurt/curd ( or As per requirement)(Curd should be thick,with out water)
• 3-4 finely chopped Green Chilly
• 1/2 cup finely chopped Coriander leaves
• 1 finely chopped Ginger
• Salt as per taste
• Oil for deep frying

Method :
Mix all the above ingredient's(except oil)properly in mixing bowl and prepare pakoda dough(add yogurt if required, but do not add water). ( Dough as shown in picture below). Let the dough rest for 15 min.

Heat the oil and take small small portion of the dough and dip in to the oil, and deep fry them till it turns in to golden brown.And the crispy Sooji Pakda are ready to serve.

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Bread Pudding / Bread pudding made in Cooker

Ingredients : 

• 14-15 slices of Bread ( take only White part ) 
• 2 Cups Milk
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 1-2 Drops of Vanilla Essence

 For the Caramel

• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 2 TbspWater

Method :
Tear the bread roughly into small pieces and soak it in the milk mixed with sugar and vanilla essence properly. Make sure the bread is smashed nicely in milk. Keep aside.
Then in a pan add in water and sugar for the caramel mix. Keep stirring on low-med flame. Once the sugar is thick leave as it on flame till you get brown color mixture. Just stir the pan once in a wile if you need.Once you get the brown color melted sugar, pour evenly in a pressure cooker pan and the on top of that put the bread mixture around and sprad with spoon evenly.
Cover the pan with aluminium foil and make holes randomly to keep the steam going through it. Pour sufficient water in pressure cooker and then put in the pressure cooker pan and steam cook for about 20-25 mins on low flame.

Let the pudding cool down completely and then in a plate topple over the mixture and chill it in fridge. Serve chilled.

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Kharavas

Kharvas' is the marathi name of a sweet steamed pudding made out of milk given by a cow or buffalo within a day after she has calved.

Ingredients :

• 1 Liter bovine colostrum milk ( Cheek )
• 1 or 1/2 liter Milk if required ( Please refer Method )
• 1-2 cup (more or less as pertaste / sweetness) grated jaggery or Powdered sugar
• 1 Tsp Cardamom Powder
• A few strands of saffron (optional )

Method :

P.N : If  Cheek is 1 day old then add 1 Liter Milk to Cheek, if Cheek is 2 days old then add 1/2 Liter Milk to it, and if Cheek is 3 or more days old then no need to add Milk.Dissolve the jaggery in the milk.  Add the cardamom powder and saffron to the milk.Pour the milk in a container that will fit in a pressure cooker or other large pan, with enough water in the outer pan for steaming. Cover with a lid and steam for 15-20 minutes .Or even you can Cook in pressure cooker with 3 whistles. Let cool completely , Then cut into pieces and chill it in the fridge for a few hours before serving.

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