Maharashtrian Masala Bhath

Blogging Marathon# 29: Week 3/ Day 1
Theme: Course Wise Meal from any State - Maharashtra/ Lunch Dishes
Dish: Masala Bath

Today we start 3rd week of Blogging Marathon (BM# 29) and my theme for this week is 'Course Wise Meal from any State'. I wanted to try dishes from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra or Uttar Pradesh. Luckily I found a newspaper cutout with Maharashtrian recipes that my MIL got for me 3 years ago.

For the first day I made Masala bath from the paper. It is a one-pot dish, that is spicy, filling and packed with vegetables. I love these kind of dishes where you put all the ingredients in one pot and don't have to worry about side dishes, convenient for weeknight meals.

Ingredients:

Rice - 1cup

Eggplant - 2 small, chopped

Tindora (dondakaya) - 6-8 medium, chopped
Carrot - 1 small, peeled and chopped into 1" pieces
Green Peas - ¼cup
Cashews - 2tbsp
Turmeric - ¼tsp
Curry leaves - 10-12
Cinnamon stick - 1" piece
Cardamom pods - 3
Cloves - 3
Asafoetida/ Hing - ¼tsp
Cilantro - 2tbsp, finely chopped for ganish
Sugar - 1tsp
Salt - to taste

For Masala:
Grated Coconut - ½cup
Dry Red Chilies - 2-3
Coriander seeds - 2tsp
Cumin seeds - 2tsp

Method:

• Make Masala: Dry roast all the masala ingredients separately until fragrant. Then grind into a powder and set aside.
• To make Masala Bath: Soak rice for at least 30 minutes.
• Heat 2tbsp ghee/ oil in a pressure cooker, add cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamom pods. Fry till fragrant. Next add the ground masala, turmeric, hing, cashews, curry leaves and the vegetables. Cook for 5 minutes.
• Next add rice, 2 cups of water, salt and sugar. Cook for 2-3 whistles. Serve garnished with chopped cilantro.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 29.