Palak Methi Nu Muthiya (Gujarati Steamed Spinach Dumplings)

Here's a recipe for steamed Palak-Methi muthiyas. These are great as an evening snack or stirred into curries. Muthiyas are first steamed and then shallow-fried until crispy on the outside.

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Tameta Muthiya nu Shaak (Gujarati Tomato Curry with Steamed Dumplings)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines 

Week 3: Gujarati Cuisine 

Day 20: T for Tameta Muthiya nu Shaak

Recipe from Tarla Dalal.com:
Can't believe we are at the end of the 3rd week in our 'Journey through the cuisines' mega marathon. Here's the last of the Gujarati dishes in the series and it's yet another easy to make, simple everyday tomato curry with muthiyas.

I made Palak-Methi muthiyas -- steamed this time to add to the tomato shaak. Even the fried muthiyas would work just as good in this recipe. I made a similar Gujarati tomato curry with sev for one of the previous BMs.

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Sambhariyu Shaak (Gujarati Stuffed Mixed Vegetable Curry)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines 

Week 3: Gujarati Cuisine 

Day 19: S for Sambhariya Shaak

Today's Gujarati dish is yet another traditional vegetable dish. Here the veggies are stuffed with a spicy coconut filling and then pressure cooked until cooked to perfection. Another amazing recipe from Tarla Dalal.com.

All of my recipes for this week are from Tarla Dala's site. It has been a great resource and I love watching her videos as well. She makes even a hard recipe sound very easy to make.

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Rotlis (Gujarati Rotis)

Rotlis are nothing but Gujarati paper thin phulkas. Being from the south, I knew only about phulka (puffed up roti), chapathi (pan fried roti) while growing up. But after coming to the US, I came to know about rotli, bhakri, thepla and so on, thanks to my North Indian friends.

The first time I had rotlis were at one of my Gujarati friend's cousins house while in Graduate school. The lovely couple invited us over for dinner and bhabhi (my friend's SIL) made a huge spread of delicious Gujarati dishes. But all I can remember from that day were her super soft freshly made rotlis. She even used to send a pack of rotlis with our friend for all of us. So whenever I think of rotlis, I think of bhabhi and her amazing hospitality.

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Rasawala Chana (Gujarati Saucy Chickpea Curry)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines 

Week 3: Gujarati Cuisine 

Day 18: R for Rasawala Chana with Rotlis

Today's Gujarati dish is a simple, protein packed curry made with black chana or chickpeas. Rasawala means saucy and in this dish black chickpeas are cooked in a tangy and sweet sauce.

The only time taking part of this dish is the soaking and boiling the chana. The actual cooking time takes about 15 minutes. Served with rotis or even rice, this is a delicious and comforting dish. I made rotlis to serve with this chana.

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Quick Pan Handvo (Gujarati Instant Handvo)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines 

Week 3: Gujarati Cuisine 

Day 17: Q for Quick Pan Handvo

Q was one of the tough letters to find a dish in Gujarati cuisine (I guess it's difficult in many cuisines). I was almost tempted to make 'Qesar Shrikhand' but it seemed a little odd, so I finally ended up making Quick Pan Handvo instead.

Handvo is a popular Gujarati snack. It is a baked spicy lentil cake made with a fermented batter of rice, lentils and spices. It is crispy on the outside and soft inside. It has been on my to-make list for quite a long time. I was hoping to try the traditional version for this mega marathon, but Oondhiyu dictated the letter selection, so Handvo has to wait for now.

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Piyush (Gujarati Yogurt Drink)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines 
Week 3: Gujarati Cuisine 
Day 16: P for Piyush
Today I have a creamy and delicious dessert perfect for the summer. It is Gujarati version of lassi and is made with Shrikhand. Initially I had a savory dish planned for P, but then I saw this Piyush recipe on Tarla Dalal.com and since I already had Kesar Shrikhand in the fridge, I made it right away. Also with the sweltering summer heat in India, this is a perfect cooling drink.

Piyush is nothing but jazzed up version of shrikhand. It is mixed with more yogurt (or buttermilk) and thinned out with milk, then flavored with spices. This was one of the easiest and one of the yummiest yogurt based desserts I've ever made. Since I was the only having this at home, I thoroughly enjoyed making and drinking this creamy and rich Piyush.

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Methi Muthiya (Gujarati Fried Dumplings)

There are 2 ways of making Muthiyas -- steamed and shallow fried or deep fried. I have tried the steamed version with this Lauki Muthiyas. But for the Oondhiyu meal I followed Tarla Dalal's recipe for deep fried Methi muthiyas.

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Kesar Shrikhand

I would never have imagined myself eating a savory dish with a sweet side. So when we were served Shrikhand with Pooris and Oondhiyu at our Gujarati friend's house, I was almost reluctant to take the plunge. But I took their word for it and tried it anyway. It was a really good combo, not at all like what I was imagining it to be.

So when I planned this Oondhiyu meal, I had to make the Shrikhand too to make it more like the traditional Gujarati way of serving the dish. Good thing is that it takes just a few minutes to make Shrikhand if you are using Greek yogurt, but if you are using regular yogurt, then make sure to place the yogurt in a cheese cloth for a few hours to remove as much excess liquid from it as possible.

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Oondhiyu (Undhiyu) (Gujarati Mixed Vegetable dish)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines 

Week 3: Gujarati Cuisine 

Day 15: O for Oondhiyu
We are starting third week of our mega marathon 'Journey through the cuisines' and my choice for this week is 'Gujarati cuisine'. The main reason for picking Gujarat is to cook today's dish. I wanted to try this delicious mixed vegetable dish called Undhiyu or Oondhiyu for the mega marathon and initially I was thinking of doing Gujarati cuisine for the last week (so U would have been Undhiyu), but I couldn't find dishes for most of the other letters, so it became Oondhiyu instead.

This was actually the very first dish I cooked for the marathon. Few months ago, I ate Undhiyu for the very first time at one of our Gujju friends and it was absolutely amazing. Since then I had it in my mind and when I sat down to make my list for the marathon, this was the first one on there.

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Sev Khamani

Time sure is flying right by, can't believe it is the middle of May already. It almost slipped my mind that it's time to post for this month's 'Indian Cooking Challenge' and I haven't even looked at the ingredients. I immediately looked at the recipe and my pantry & fridge to see if I had all the ingredients. I was only missing the pomegranate, I went shopping and bought it right away.
So the dish that Valli picked is this Gujarati snack called Sev Khamani. Recipe is from Vaishali's friend, so big thanks to Vaishali & Valli for picking this recipe.

Gujaratis have a knack of making delicious snacks & dishes with just about any ingredient. It's mind boggling the number of snacks and desserts they make. This is one such recipe where the dish uses crumbled up khaman dhoklas. I think it is a genius idea because my dhoklas end up crumbled most of the time anyway and this is a delicious way of reusing them into a completely new dish.

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Gujarati Khichdi

Blogging Marathon# 49: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Weekend Brunch Recipes

Dish: Gujarati Khichdi

My theme for the first week of this month's marathon is 'Brunch Recipes'. Brunch should be hearty and filling, but not too filling that it is going to make you take an early afternoon nap. Also since we are skipping breakfast to eat brunch, it should be nutritious enough to keep you going and charged for at least 3~4 hours. 

With all those in mind, here's a one pot dish that is sure to keep you full and energized until the next meal. Being a south Indian, I grew up eating rice for just about all the meals. Breakfast could be anything like lemon rice, tamarind rice, curd rice or pongal and that used to keep us full till lunch. But nowadays eating rice for breakfast or even brunch has become quite a rarity in my household.

As I was thinking of Indian dishes to make for brunch, khichdi came to my mind right away. It has dal (lentils) for protein and rice for carbs, which in my mind is perfect dish for any time of day. I found this Gujarati Khichdi recipe in Sanjeev Kapoor's Vegetarian Rice, Biryani & pulao cookbook.

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Dhokli nu Shaak (Gujarati dish for ICC)

For this month's 'Indian Food Challenge', Valli gave us a fairly easy dish to make. It is a delicious yogurt based gravy that has besan cakes dunked in it. The minute I saw her announcement, I mentally made a note to make it, but slowly time flew right by and then this morning I saw Valli's email that her ICC post is up. It was only then I realized that I almost forgot about the event.

Thankfully I had all the ingredients on hand and my husband is travelling, so I can have a field day with yogurt based dishes :-) (did you see my Shrikand recipe from two days ago).
Besan cakes used in this dish are very similar to an Andhra dish called Besan chikki. My MIL sautes the besan before adding the water and making the cakes and the gravy is tamarind based and not buttermilk based.

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Amiri Khaman (Split Chickpea Squares)

Blogging Marathon# 47: Week 1/ Day 3

Theme: North Indian Starters

Dish: Amiri Khaman

I think my geography is a little dicey but I have a pretty good idea of Indian geography. I know where each state of India is located and I promise that I know this even before I did A-Z Indian states marathon. I'm surprised that most of the people from the North are so confused about the 4 south Indian states. They think everyone from the south is from Chennai and no the hindi movie 'Chennai Express' does not help even a little bit.
So anyway I know where today's starter is coming from :-) This dish is from the western state of Gujarat. I saw this recipe in 'Vegetarian Cooking of India' cookbook by Mridula Baljekar. These protein packed squares are simple, delicious and nutritious. They are excellent to serve as snack/ appetizer along with some ketchup and/ or sweet tamarind chutney.

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Mohanthal for ICC (Gujarati Besan-Mawa Burfi)

Valli picked a simple and delicious Gujarati special sweet for this month's Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC). I am a big fan of burfis/ fudges because they are easy to make and don't need too many ingredients. Today's burfi is a Gujarati special and is made with besan, mawa/ khoya, sugar and nuts. 

This sweet is very simple to make and can be done in less than an hour. Only complicated thing involved is to know when the burfi reaches the right consistency. I took it out of the pan a few seconds early and the burfi didn't set and was a little sticky. So I put it back in the pan and cooked it for another couple minutes to get the nice, soft, melt-in-the-mouth burfi. It does require quite a bit of sugar and ghee, so eat them in moderation. They can be stored in an airtight container for up to 7~10 days.

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Gujarat -- Mini Thali

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 8
State: Gujarat
Dish: Mini Gujarati Thali

Gujarat is a state in the North-Western coast of India. It is known locally as Jewel of the West. Gujarat is the home of many many freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, successful entreprenuers like Dhirubhai Ambani (Reliance Industries), Azim Premji (Wipro Limited) and Jamsetji Tata. Gujarat played an important role in the economic history of India.

Cuisine: Gujarat is primarily a vegetarian cuisine due to the influence of Jain vegetarianism and traditional Hinduism. When i think of Gujarat, I think of the wide variety of dishes they have. There are so many snack items, so many breads, so many of everything. Gujaratis travel with bags full of snacks wherever they go and most of them are probably homemade. Adding a little sugar or jaggery to some of the dishes is common in Gujarat, the sweet flavor is believed to neutralize the slightly bland taste of the vegetables. Sweets (desserts) are extremely popular too in Gujarat.

Staple Food: Wheat, Rice, Lentils

Specialties: There are hundreds of Gujarati specialties, here are a few: Handvo, Muthia, Patra, Undhiyu, Khandvi, Dhokla, Kachori so on and so on.

Today's Dish(es): I wanted to try more than one dish from this amazing cuisine and with the time I had, I made a mini thali with simple and everyday Gujarati dishes. I have some good Gujarati friends and was lucky enough to enjoy their delicious home cooked dishes. Most of the dishes look so simple to make, but they are tricky and need some practice to make them perfect like Khandvi, Dhokla, Handvo etc.

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Gujarati Lauki Muthiya (Doodhi Muthia)

Blogging Marathon# 37: Week 4/ Day2
Theme: Member's Choice
Dish: Gujarati Muthiya with Lauki (Bottle gourd)

For the second day of BM# 37 under member's choice theme I picked Gujarati Muthiya. This healthy & filling snack from Gujarat has been on my to-make list for quite some time. So when I saw it on the members choice list, I knew I had to try it for this week.
I wanted to make Palak (spinach) muthiya and mentioned it to my blogging friends. Vaishali came back saying that the traditional muthiyas are made with methi leaves (fenugreek) or lauki (bottle gourd) and all the other versions are not very authentic. So I changed my mind and made the lauki muthiyas.

'Muthi' means fist in Gujarati and the dish is named 'muthiya' because they are made into a cylindrical shape using the fist. They are first steamed and then pan fried until crisp. They are great when served hot as tea time snack.

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Dapka Kadhi (Gujarati Kadhi with Moong dal Dumplings)

It has been quite some time that I made anything for Indian Cooking Challenge. When I see Valli's email announcing the dish of the month, I get excited and plan on making it, but some time between the announcement and the actual date of posting I either completely forget about it or don't find the time to make it.

Anyway I didn't want to miss this month's challenge because kadhi is one of my favorite dishes, But I don't make it often because my husband doesn't eat milk/ yogurt based dishes and so I avoid making them when he's around. Lucky for me, he's been travelling and I went ahead and made this yummy kadhi with moong dal dumplings.

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Gujarati Dal for ICC January

For this month’s Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC), Valli chose Gujarati Dal from Sukham Ayu cookbook. I own a copy of the book, but never made this dish, so thank you valli for picking this nutritious and delicious dish for ICC. This post also is the last in our 7 day mini marathon. As I said earlier the marathon has been great experience and an opportunity to get to know so many talented bloggers that I didn’t know before. I’ve bookmarked quite a few recipes and I hope to try them pretty soon. Coming to the Gujarati dal recipe.

I substituted some of the ingredients due to lack of availability. I cook with yam very frequently, but didn’t have any on hand when making the dish; I’m going to make this dish strictly per the recipe again when I have all the ingredients on hand.

Ingredients:
Toor dal – ½ cup
Tamarind: 2tbsp
Cluster beans (Goru chikkudu kaya) – ¼ cup, thawed if frozen
Green chilies – 2, slit
Ginger – 1” piece, finely chopped
Peanuts – 1tbsp (I used unsalted roasted peanuts)
Ground Coriander – 2tsp
Ground Cumin – 1tsp
Jaggery – 1tsp
Turmeric – ½ tsp
Garam masala – ½ tsp
Coriander leaves – ½ cup, chopped
Salt – to taste

For tempering:
Mustard seeds (Aavalu)– 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds (Menthulu) – 1/4 tsp

Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Dry red chili – 2
Curry leaves – 5-6
Asafoetida – pinch

Method:

• Pressure cook toor dal with 2 cups until very soft. When cool enough to handle, mash dal smooth.
• Add all ingredients except for garam masala, coriander leaves and tempering ingredients to the smooth dal along with 1 cup of water. Bring to a simmer on medium-low flame and cook for 15-20 minutes until all the flavors are mingle.
• In a small sauce pan, heat 2tsp ghee for the tempering; add mustard seeds and once they start sputtering, lower the heat and add fenugreek seeds. Next add the dry red chili, hing and curry leaves.
• Once everything starts to sputter and smell aromatic, add it quickly to the dal.
• Add garam masala, salt and coriander leaves to the dal; bring to a boil and simmer for another 5 minutes before turning off the heat.

Serve hot with steamed rice or roti.


Don't forget to check out what the other Marathoners are cooking up in their kitchens.

Azeema, Bhagi, Champa, Sowmya, Gayathri Anand, Gayathri Kumar, Harini, Jay, Kamalika, Mina, Meena, Padma, PJ, Priya Mahadevan, PriyaSuresh, PriyaVaasu, Rujuta, Saraswathi, Savitha, Shanavi, Smitha, Srivalli, Suma,Usha,Veena.

Khandvi for ICC

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC), Valli chose Khandvi, a Gujarati delicacy. This was truly a challenge for me since I've never tasted Khandvi before and looking at the recipe it seemed that it required quite a bit of expertise and practice to make them. Valli us to use either one of two recipes by Lataji or by Anupama Krishnamurthy. I ended up using both: Quantities from Lataji and technique from Anupama. Thank you all for the recipes.

Here's how I made my Khandvi:

Ingredients:

Besan (Chickpea flour) - 1/3 cup

Yogurt (sour) - 1/3 cup, beaten

Water - 1 cup

Turmeric - pinch

Ginger + Green chili paste - 1tbsp

Asafoetida (Hing) - pinch

Salt - to taste

Coriander leaves - 2tsp

Grated coconut - 1tsp

For Tempering:

Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Sesame seeds - 1/2 tsp

Method:

• Grease the back of a steel plate and keep ready.
• In a small bowl, combine besan with yogurt, water, salt, hing, turmeric and ginger+green chili paste. Using a hand mixer, blend the ingredients to form a homogeneous mixture.
• Heat 1tbsp oil in a non-stick pan, add the besan mixture and cook stirring constantly on medium-low flame. Cook until the mixture comes together and starts to leave the sides of the pan. (It took me about 20 minutes to get the right texture, I might have been over cautious and cooked on super low flame,).
• Once the mixture is ready, pour it onto the prepared plate and spread out to form a circle.
• Cut the mixture into strips and roll. Keep them on a serving plate.
• For the tempering: heat 1tsp oil in a small pan, and add mustard & sesame seeds. Once the seeds start to sputter, pour over Khandvi.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and grated coconut. Serve immediately.

I have to say that my Khandvi's were not very successful. I had trouble rolling them and they started to break apart. But the taste was awesome, so I'll probably try to make them again with better results (hopefully). Thanks for introducing yet another yummy dish Valli.