Sakharbath

Blogging Marathon# 26: Week 1/ Day 2
Theme: Goan Cuisine
Dish: Sakharbath
After two savory and spicy dishes from Goa, I was looking for a dessert recipe to try. Goan cuisine has ton of delicious desserts that use coconut, cashews. One dessert that really caught my eye is Bebinca, but after seeing that the dish has a dozen egg yolks and cup and a half of ghee (clarified butter), I changed my mind. Also I was making this dish just for myself since my husband is travelling, so I didn't want it to be too labor intensive and wanted just 1 or 2 servings.

Finally I zeroed in on this Sakharbhath recipe. This is a very simple, easy and quick sweet rice dish. I used only ¼cup of rice, but the recipe can be doubled or tripled to feed a crowd. Rice is cooked in just water and then sweetened to taste with sugar, so this is a dairy free which I'm sure my milk-hating husband will definitely appreciate.

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Vegetarian Vindaloo with Eggplant & Mushroom

Blogging Marathon# 26: Week 1/ Day 2
Theme: Goan Cuisine
Dish: Eggplant & Mushroom Vindaloo

For Day 2 under "Goan Cuisine" for BM# 26, I made Vindaloo with Eggplant, mushrooms and red pepper. A little bit of Wiki gyan (knowledge) about Vindaloo -- "Vindaloo is derived from a Portuguese dish named "Carne de Vinha d' Alhos" which is usually made with pork, red wine and garlic.The Goans modified the dish by using vinegar for the red wine and kashmiri chilies and additional spices."

When I saw this recipe Eggplant and Mushroom Vindaloo on Vaishali's blog, I wanted to try it myself to see how it tastes. This recipe uses balsamic vinegar instead of white vinegar and that sounded delicious to me. Balsamic vinegar gives the dish a mildly sweet tangy flavor that goes great with the veggies. I add balsamic to my roasted veggies, so I know it tastes amazing. I wasn't disappointed at all. When I tasted the dish, there was a party of flavors in my mouth. Its tangy, spicy, sour, sweet, all at the same time.

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Vegetarian Xacuti

Blogging Marathon# 26: Week 1/ Day 1
Theme: Goan Cuisine
Dish: Vegetarian Xacuti with Meatless Meatballs

Today we start Blogging Marathon# 26 and my theme for this week is "Goan Cuisine". The only dish that  I have tried from Goa is the Vegetable Vindaloo. So when I saw this theme, I decided to try more dishes from this cuisine.

When I think of Goa, I think of scenic blue seas, beautiful churches and lush greenery. All this from watching a ton of Indian movies because I'm fortunate to visit this paradise on earth yet. Hopefully one day we can make this trip. When I think of Goan cuisine, I think of seafood and meat, because from movies like Saagar of the coast, the Portuguese colonization and the Christian population. But what I didn't know that there are vegetarian dishes that are unique to konkani region.

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Goan Mixed Vegetable Curry

Pressure cooker is a quintessential equipment in any Indian kitchen. I own 6 pressure cookers in different sizes, shapes and materials -- stainless steel, aluminum and hard anodized. Each one has its own purpose, one can fit the idli stand, one cooks for a crowd, one for 2 and so on. More than a couple of them have served me well for the past 12+ years. Fortunately I've never had an accident in my kitchen (touch wood).

So when Jaya posted about a cookbook author belittling my beloved kitchen equipment, I wanted to show my love to my pressure cooker by posting about it. Like any Indian, I cook rice, lentils, beans, veggie curries etc in the pressure cooker. In today's recipe I used the cooker to cook the veggies and give me a head start in making the curry. 

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