Bhindi Sambhariya - Stuffed Okra

Okra was my favourite vegetable as a child. My mom would make me an okra side dish pretty much every week. Most of the time, it was the simple stir fried okra. And it was mostly eaten with rasam and rice. My son also shares this love of Okra and I always try to get some good okra and prepare a side dish for him

Cabbage Sambharo - Warm Salad with Cabbage and Carrot - Gujarati recipe

Sambharo is a quick stir fry made of cabbage and carrots. It is flavoured mildly with chillies and spices. It works as a side dish as well. As with most Gujarati recipes, this also has a little sugar to add sweetness. You can skip it if you don't like it.

Tindora Nu Shaak - Gujarati Tindora

Tindora Nu Shaak is a very simple Side dish made in Gujarat. The beauty of this dish is the minimal use of spices. My son could not stop eating it, he loved it so much. Give it a try, you will love it. I made this a long time ago as part of my Gujarati Thali.



Ingredients

Tindora (Kovakka) 15-20 About 200gms
Oil 2 tsp
Hing a little
Turmeric Powder 1/4 tsp
Chili Powder 1/4 tsp
Coriander Powder 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Slice the Tindora into 4.

2. Heat oil in a pan. Add the hing. Then add the tindora. Saute for a couple of minutes.

3. Add 1/4 cup of water. Cover and cook in slow flame.

4. Add turmeric powder, chili powder, coriander powder and salt. Saute for another 2-3 min

Gujarati Dal - Toor Dal Cooked in Gujarati Flavours

Gujarati Dal - Toor Dal Cooked in Gujarati Flavours, I prepared this dal as part of the Thali Meal that I made.



Ingredients

Toor Dal 1 cup
Peanuts 2 tbsp
Tomato 1
Jaggery 2 tbsp
Ginger 1 inch piece
Green Chilli 1
Red Chilli Powder 1/4 tsp
Turmeric Powder 1/2 tsp
Date Syrup 1 tbsp
Lemon Juice 1 tbsp

Tempering

Ghee (clarified butter) 1 tbsp (skip for vegan version)
Oil 1 tbsp
Mustard 1/2 tsp
Clove 2
Cinnamon 1 inch piece
Hing a little
Dry Red Chili 1
Curry Leaves few

Method of Preparation

1. Pressure cook the toor dal with enough water. Let it cool and then grind into a smooth paste.

2. Boil the peanuts in some water for 10 min till it is cooked.

3. Heat oil and ghee in pan. Add the mustard seeds.

4. When it sputters, add the clove, cinnamon, hing, red chillies and curry leaves.

5. When it sizzles, add the toor dal along with tomato, jaggery, chopped ginger, chopped green chilli, chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt.

6. Add some water as needed to adjust consistency.

7. The original recipe called for 2-3 dates as well. I did not have any. So I added a tbsp of Date syrup.

8. Bring to boil and simmer for a few minutes.

9. Switch off. Add the lemon juice. 

Kachumber - Simple Indian Salad

Kachumber is basically a very simple Indian Salad. The dressing is nothing but lemon juice. Just slices/chop the veggies, toss it with lemon juice and salt. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Another dish that I served with the Gujarati Thali



Ingredients

Onions 1/2 cup sliced
Tomatoes 1/2 cup finely chopped
Cucumber 1/2 cup sliced
Green Chilli 1 finely chopped
Lemon Juice 1 tbsp
Coriander Leaves 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Chop all the veggies as described above.

2. Toss it with lemon juice and salt. 

Rotli - Thin Flatbread made with whole wheat flour

Rotli is quite similar to roti. The flour is the same - whole wheat flour. The main differences are that they are super soft and super thin. This is achieved by a couple of changes in the Method of Preparation. A little oil is added to make dough and All purpose flour is used to roll it. The APF gives it that smooth surface and it enables the rolling into thin circles.

Check out other recipes from a Gujarati Thali here



You cannot quite make out the difference in the photo. It was thinner than roti and much softer. Recipe adapted from here

Ingredients (Makes 8 Rotlis)

Wheat Flour 1.5 cups
Oil 2 tbsp
Warm Water about 3/4 cup (as required)
Salt a little

APF (Maida) for rolling
Ghee for serving (optional)

Method of Preparation

1. Take the Wheat Flour in the mixing bowl.

2. Add oil to it (save 1 tsp) and give it a mix.

3. Add warm water little at a time and knead into a smooth dough. Apply the remaining oil around the dough.

4. Cover and let it rest for 30 min.

5. Split the dough into 8 small balls.

6. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into thin circles. Dip in the all purpose flour for ease of rolling.

7. Cook on both sides on a hot tawa. And then optionally cook directly on the flame for a puffed rotli.

Apply some ghee. Serve with some side dish of your choice.

Batata Nu Shaak - Gujarati Potato Curry

A very simple Potato Dish prepared in the Western State of Gujarat. I made it as part of the Gujarati Thali. Check it out for all other dishes from the cuisine.

Recipe given to me by Vaishali



Ingredients

Potato 4 cubed (no need to peal)
Tomato 1 chopped finely
Oil 2 tbsp
Mustard Seeds 1/2 tsp
Cumin Seeds 1/2 tsp
Hing a little
Turmeric Powder 1/2 tsp
Red Chilli Powder 1 tsp
Cumin Powder 1 tsp
Coriander Powder 1 tsp
Sugar 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Coriander Leaves to garnish

Method of Preparation

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds.

2. When it sputters, add the cumin seeds, hing.

3. When it sizzles, add the cubed potatoes. Saute for a couple of minutes.

4. Add the turmeric powder, chilli powder, cumin powder and coriander powder. Saute for another minute.

5. Add the chopped tomatoes, sugar and 1 cup of water.

6. Cook in low flame till all the water is absorbed and the potatoes are cooked.

7. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Serve with some warm rotis. 

Gujarati Thali

Gujarat is a state in the Western Side of India. I have special love for that state cause I was born there and my mother grew up there. Though I have not lived there, I have great memories of my childhood holidays spent there.

When Avant Garde Cookies decided to make Thali for this week, I knew I wanted to try Gujarati Thali. I usually make Tamil Thali and Kerala Thali. But I have never been bold enough to try a Thali from another state. This experience has given me the confidence to try out more Thali.



Before I proceed to describe the Thali, let me first say a very very Big Thank You to Vaishaliji. She is a blogger who blogs at Ribbons and Pastas. She helped me come up with the items in this Thali. I have tried to stick to her ideas and have tried to make as Authentic Gujarati as possible. I am posting the Thali today. I will add the individual dishes in the next few days and link back to this post. Stay Tuned!!



Dishes Prepared

Drink 
Chaas - Buttermilk flavoured with cumin, green chillies, ginger and hing

Sweets
Gol Papdi - Made with Wheat Flour, Ghee and Jaggery. It is supposed to be square in shape. it did not quite set for me. So I rolled it into a ball.

Shrikhand - Thickened Yogurt with sugar and cardamom

Side Dishes
Batata Nu Shaak - Potato Curry
Tindora Nu Shaak - Tindora Curry

Dal
Gujarati Dal - Toor Dal cooked with Gujarati Flavours

Starter/Accompaniments
Dhokla - Steamed Besan or Chickpea flour
Leele Chutney - Green Chutney made with coriander and peanuts
Papads
Kachumber - Indian Salad with onions,tomatoes,cucumber tossed in lemon juice

Mains
Rice
Rotli - Thin Roti made with Wheat Flour 

Kacchi Dabeli

Street food has always a place in everyone's heart. Every part of the world have their favourites. In India Chaats are quite popular. Though it started in Maharastra, it has spread all over the country and every place has their variation of the Chaat. I thought I have tasted all the important ones when I had eaten Bhel Puri, Pani Puri and Pav Bhaji. How wrong was I? When I ate Misal Pav for the first time, I knew this was it. Nothing can be as good as Misal Pav. I still stand by that.

But this Dabeli bowled over all of us. What an amazing combination of flavours. I had never eaten Dabeli and when I saw the Recipe here, I knew I had to try it. Please do yourself a favour and make this. You will thank me for it.



Ingredients

For Assembly

Pav Bread
Garlic Chutney - recipe below and here
Tamarind Date Chutney - recipe here
Potato Masala - recipe below
Spicy Peanuts - recipe below
Sev - recipe here
Pomegranate 1
Onions 1
Coriander leaves

Potato Stuffing

Ingredients

Potato 5
Onion 1
Tomato 1

Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Lemon Juice 1 tbsp
Coriander leaves a little

Dabeli Masala -

Coriander Seeds 2 tbsp
Cumin Seeds 1 tbsp
Cinnamon 2 inch piece
Clove 2
Dry Red Chilli 4

Method of Preparation

1. Boil and peal potatoes. Mash/Grate the boiled potatoes.

2. In a pan, dry roast the ingredients for Dabeli Masala - the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cinnamon, clove and dry red chilli. Cool and powder.

3. Heat oil in a pan. Add onions. Saute till it is browned.

4. Add finely chopped tomatoes and turmeric. Saute till tomatoes are cooked well.

5. Add dabeli masala, mashed potato and salt. Mix everything well and switch off.

Spicy Peanut

Ingredients

Peanuts 1/2 cup
Red Chilli powder 1/2 tsp
Hing a litte
Oil and Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Heat a little oil in a pan. Add the peanuts. Roast till it is slightly browned.

2. Add red chilli powder, hing and salt. Mix well. Keep ready.

Garlic Chutney (hare lasun ki chutney)

Ingredients

Garlic 8 pods
Red Chilli 5
Lemon Juice 2 tbsp
Salt and little water

Method of Preparation

1. Soak the red chillies in water.

2. Add soaked red chillies, raw pealed garlic, lemon juice, salt and water as required to the mixie.

3. Grind into a smooth paste. Keep ready.

Final Assembly

1. Take a flat plate with rims. Add potato stuffing on the plate.



2. Top it with spicy peanuts, sev, raw onions, pomegranate and coriander leaves.



3. In a pan, add a little butter and pav breads and toast it.

4. Apply tamarind chutney on on side and garlic chutney on the other side.

5. Cut a slice of the potato masala to it. Add some more spicy peanuts, sev, raw onions, pomegranate and coriander leaves if needed.

6. Close with the other side of the pav bread.

Enjoy!!

Gujarati Khichdi - Vegetable Dal Khichdi

I have been cooking 'North Indian' food a lot, especially sides for Roti. Well, for someone from South (that too all the way to the tip of India), most things are North Indian and most of what I have eaten are those served in Indian restaurants in US, which in a way serves mainly Punjabi dishes. And if you ever visit a South Indian in US, it is basically Tamil food.

I decided lately that I will start exploring some cuisines of other states as well. This is part of that venture. I have made a few Rajastani and Gujarati dishes already. Will try to explore more as this culinary journey continues.

I have tried to follow Vaishali's recipe, though ended up making a few minor changes.



Ingredients

Rice 1.5 cup
Moong dal 3/4 cup
Channa dal 1.5 tbsp
Toor dal 1.5 tbsp

Bay leaf 2
Clove 4
Cinnamon 2 inch piece
Cumin/Jeera 2 tsp
Red chilli 3
Hing a little
Turmeric 1 tsp
Chilli powder 1 tsp

Potato 1
Beans 10-15
Carrot 2
Peas 1/2 cup

Tomato 2
Spinach 1 cup

Oil and salt to taste

Ghee for serving



Method of preparation

1. Soak the rice and dal for an hour.

2. In a pressure cooker, heat some oil. Add the bay leaf, Clove, Cinnamon, Cumin and red chilli.

3. Add Hing, Turmeric and Chilli powder.

4. Now add the chopped potato, carrot, beans and peas. Give it a stir.

5. Drain the rice and dal. Add to the cooker.

6. Finally add the chopped tomato and spinach. Add some salt as well.

7. Add 6 cups of water. Close the cooker and cook for 2 whistles.

8. Serve with ghee drizzled on top. Some papad and pickle will complete the meal. And oh, don't forget some Chaas (spiced buttermilk)

Khasta Kachori - Kachori with moong dal stuffing

Gujaratis are a group of people who love food and hospitality. Eating and entertaining is a family ritual. My mom grew up there and we have spent a good portion of our summer holidays in Ahmedabad. Khakras though quite simple are my fav. Simple things like Shrikhand and Poori with Aamras still linger in my memory. Lets not forget the Dhoklas and Theplas.

Avant Garde Cookies this month decided to make Gujju Snacks. I have already made Khakras and have failed miserably in making Dhokla. When I saw this recipe for Kachori, I knew I wanted to make it.

Kachoris are traditionally Rajastani. But this variation with Moong Dal stuffing traces its origins in Gujarat. It was just out of the world. We all loved it.





Ingredients

Maida (APF) 2 cups
salt 1 tsp
Oil a little
Cold water

Stuffing
Moong dal (soaked and drianed, powdered) 1/2 cup
Fennel seeds 1 tsp
Coriander seeds 1 tsp
Red Chilli 1
Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Ginger powder 1/2 tsp
Hing a little
Salt

To serve
Boiled and cubed potatoes
Cooked Chickpeas
Yogurt
Tamarind Date Chutney - recipe here
Mint Chutney - recipe here
Onions
Coriander leaves
Sev/Bhujia  - recipe here
Chilli Powder
Chat Masala

Method of Preparation

Preparing the stuffing

1. Soak Yellow split moong dal for a couple of hours. Drain.

2. In a mixie, powder Fennel seeds, Coriander seeds and Red Chilli.

3. Add the drained moong dal and grind into a coarse paste/powder. Do not add any water.

4. In a pan heat some oil. Add the moong paste along with some Salt, Turmeric, Ginger powder and Hing.

5. Saute for a few minutes till the dal is cooked a little. Keep aside.



Preparing the dough

1. Take the Maida in a bowl along with some salt and oil.

2. Knead into a dough (like chappati dough) using the cold water. Make sure that you are careful with the water. Unlike wheat flour, maida does not need that much water.

3. Cover and refrigerate for 15-30 minutes.

Making the kachori

1. Divide the dough into 16 small balls.

2. Take a ball (keeping the others covered).

3. Flatten into a small disc with your hand.

4. Place a tsp of the stuffing in the center.

5. Fold the dough around the stuffing.

6. Roll into a smooth ball and then flatten into discs.

7. Repeat for the rest of the balls.

8. Keep these flattened dough wrapped in cling film for an hour in the fridge. Make sure that they do not tough each other. They will stick to each other.



Frying the Kachori

1. Heat oil in a pan. When the oil is heated up, a small portion of dough put into the oil will rise slowly up. If it rises too fast, it is too hot. If it sinks, it is not hot yet.

2. Add a few Kachoris at a time and fry in a low flame.

3. When one side is browned, turn and cook the other side.

4. Take out from oil and drain in a kitchen towel.

5. Repeat for the rest of the dough.



You can serve this with chutney. I made some chaat with it. Read on for the chaat recipe

To make chaat

1. Place Kachoris in a plate.

2. Add some potatoes and chick peas (channa).

3. Add some yogurt over it. The add some tamarind-date chutney and mint chutney.

4. Add chopped onions and coriander leaves.

5. Top with some sev.

6. Sprinkle some chilli powder and chaat masala.

Enjoy!!

Check out the other AGC thoughout this week 
Anusha, Jayanthi, Kavitha, Priya M, Radhika, Veena, Priya S

Sindhi Toor Dal

I guess I need not tell you guys about the love of dal runs in our family. To make the H and kid happy, I made another simple dal. I found the recipe for it here.



Ingredients

Toor Dal 1 cup
Water 3 cups
Tomato 2
Curry Leaves few
Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Ghee 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

For Tadka (tempering)

Mustard 1/2 tsp
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Methi seeds 1/4 tsp
Hing a generous pinch
Ginger 1 inch piece
Green chilli 1
Dried Red Chilli 2
Curry Powder (I used sambar powder) 1/2 tsp
Water 1/4 cup

Lemon Juice 1 tsp
Coriander leaves little
Oil and salt to taste



Method of Preparation

1. Add the toor dal, water, curry leaves, tomatoes, turmeric, ghee and salt to a vessel. Pressure cook till every thing is cooked well.

2. Let it cool and grind it once in the mixie to make a smooth paste. I just made a paste of half the dal mix and left the rest as is for some texture.

3. In a pan, add some oil. Add mustard, jeera, methi, hing, ginger, green chilli, red chilli.

4. When it sizzles, add the curry powder and 1/4 cup of water. Cook for a couple of min.

5. Add the dal paste and simmer for a few minutes.

6. Garnish with some coriander leaves and add the lemon juice and mix well.

Aamrakhand / Mango Shrikhand

I have this huge addiction for Shrikhand. My mom was born and brought up in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. She moved to Kerala after her marriage with my dad. We used to go to Ahmedabad for our summer holidays as my grandparents and my dad's brother and sister used to live there.

I really loved eating the Shrikhand when I was there. Another thing I relish is the Aamras (Mango Pulp) and warm rotis. There is something different about the Pulp that people make there. Not sure what they do.

One of my friends knowing my love for Shrikhand made us these Fruit and Nut Tarts. I completely forgot to check her recipe before making these. Next time I have to try her recipe. It was an out of the world dessert.

Anyways, with me getting my first box of mangoes from the Indian Store last week, I knew what I was making. I did not have Greek Yoghurt. Just had some low fat yoghurt in the fridge. That did not deter me from making it. I also did not get a lot of time to make the hung curd. I did this during my son's 2 hour afternoon nap. So it was not as thick as I would have liked.



Ingredients

Curd/Yougurt 500 gm (Made about 1.5 cups of Hung curd)
Sugar 1/2 cup
Mango 1 ( around 1 cup of pulp)
Cardamom powder 1/2 tsp
Saffron few stands
1 tbsp milk to mix saffron

Method of Preparation

1. Make hung curd from the curd by hanging it from a muslin cloth to remove excess water.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients to mixie to make a pulp.

3. Add to curd and mix well.

4. Refrigerate and serve.

After I was done taking the photos, I just sat down and ate all of the Shrikhand in the bowl that I used for taking photo. Then of course with rotis at dinner time...

Pure Divine Indulgence!!!!



Linking this to Radhika's Chilled Delights Event