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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Thalipeeth (Maharashtrian flat bread)

Buffet on Table: Week 2 -- Indian States

Day 1: Maharashtra -- Thalipeeth

After a week of combo meals from around the world, our theme for the second week of our mega marathon, Buffet on Table, is Indian States. So each day of this week, I will be sharing a dish from different states in India.

With the amount of time we had to plan for this marathon, I should have made elaborate dishes and meals for this week. Though I had plans to make it 'mega', when reality really hit me it was a little too late in the game. I stuck to very simple dishes, but I have to say I enjoyed them all very much and I will be making them often in the future.

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Ragda Pattice/ Patties (Chaat from Mumbai)

Ragda Pattice is a very popular Chaat item from Mumbai. This was the first dish I made for Maharashtra, but changed it to Vada Pav and kept this for 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge' instead. I've never made ragda pattice at home until I saw this recipe being made on a Telugu cooking show and made it twice since then. I remember enjoying this snack on the road side stalls in Hyderabad, one particular one close to my aunt's house was our favorite.

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Maharashtra -- Vada Pav (famous Street food from Mumbai)

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 16
State: Maharashtra
Dish: Vada Pav

We are going to Maharashtra, in the western coast of India. It is the second most populous state and the third largest state by area in India. Maharashtra occupies the western and central part of the country and has a long coastline nearly 720kms along the Arabian sea.
Maharashtra is divided into 5 geographic regions: Konkan is the western coastal region. Kandesh is the northwestern region. Desh is the center of the state. Marathwada is located in the southeastern part of the state. Vidarbha is the easternmost region of the state.
Maharashtra is the most industrialized state and has maintained its leading position in the industrial sector in India. The state is pioneer in small scale industries.
Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) is the capital of the State and is the financial capital of India. I have never visited Mumbai, but from what I've heard and seen in movies, it sounds like it is almost like New York -- crowded and always bustling with activity. India's main stock exchange, capital market and commodity exchange are all located in Mumbai. It is also the home of India movie industry, Bollywood.

Cuisine: Maharashtrian cuisine covers a range from being mild to very spicy dishes.
Staple Food: Wheat, rice, jowar, bajri, lentils, vegetables and fruit.
Specialties: Puran Poli, Ukdiche Modak, Batata wada, Thalipeeth, Misal Pav, Bhadang, Ukad, Amti etc.

Today's Dish: Street food is one of the characteristic of Mumbai. Mumbai is known for its distinctive street foods and people from all economic, religious and ethnic backgrounds enjoy their street food in Mumbai. So I decided to make one of the most popular street food from Mumbai, Vada Pav. Other favorites include Pani puri, Bhel puri, Sandwiches, Ragda pattice, Pav bhaji etc.,

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Misal Pav

Blogging Marathon# 29: Week 3/ Day 3
Theme: Course Wise Meal from any State - Maharashtra/ Lunch Dishes
Dish: Usal-Misal Pav

After 2 days of easy one-pot Maharashtrian dishes (Masala Bhath & Vaal Khichdi), today's dish is slightly elaborate and spicy. It's a great dish to entertain as well. I remember one of our dear Marwari friend serving this for dinner and it was probably one of the best tasting Misal Pav I've ever had. Being a rice obsessed South Indian, I was initially skeptical if that sprouts curry with bread on the side is going to fill me up -- but I was really surprised how filling and delicious that combo can be.

I referred to quite a few blogs for the recipe, but in the end I stuck with Sangeetha @ Kothiyavanu's recipe. Her pictures were gorgeous and I loved her step by step explanation. This dish is a little time consuming with quite a few steps involved, but the final dish is well worth the effort. I've tried to explain the process as clearly as possible.

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Vaal dal Khichdi

Blogging Marathon# 29: Week 3/ Day 2
Theme: Course Wise Meal from any State - Maharashtra/ Lunch Dishes
Dish: Vaal Dal Khichdi 

Day 2 of BM# 29 and I'm doing 'Maharashtrian cuisine-Lunch dishes' theme. Today's dish is also another one-pot meal, but this time its a legume and rice combination, Vaal Dal Khichdi. Nupur @ One hot Stove is one of my favorite bloggers and she happens to be a Maharashtrian. So I have perused her blog a lot for this week's theme :-)

When I saw her post for Vaal Khichdi, I went out and bought Vaal dal to make the dish. Vaal is slightly bitter, but the addition of tamarind and jaggery tames it a little bit in this dish. My 5 year old didn't dig the bitterness, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. So thanks to Nupur for introducing a new legume. Here's the picture of Vaal dal.

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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.

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Strawberry Shrikhand

Blogging Marathon# 29: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Cooking with Colors
Dish: Strawberry Shrikhand -- Red

For the final day of this week's BM, I made a delicious and colorful Shrikhand with Strawberries. Shrikhand  is nothing but sweetened strained yogurt that is usually made in Maharashtra and Gujarat. At one point in my life, I would have said a "BIG NO" to Shrikhand because I considered yogurt savory and it was sacrilege to add sugar to yogurt. Now that I'm older and wiser I know how tasty this combination could be.

To add some color and sweetness to plain shrikhand, I added some strawberry pulp to yogurt and then to make it even more fancy, I layered yogurt with strawberry puree. This combination was so amazing -- both in the looks department and also in the taste department.

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RCI-Maharashtra: Flower-Batata Rassa

This month’s Regional Cuisine of India (RCI – brain child of Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine) event is being hosted by lovely Nupur (@ One Hot Stove). And this month’s state is Nupur's very own Maharashtra.

Many of Maharashtrian dishes are simple made with basic ingredients from the pantry (just like Andhra food). I would like to thank Nupur for giving this opportunity to learn more about this cuisine.

This recipe is adapted from this site (thanks again Nupur for the site). I wanted to buy black Maharashtrian masala listed in the recipe to make the dish more authentic, but couldn’t find it in the Indian grocery near me, so I used garam masala instead.

Ingredients:
Cauliflower – 1 bunch, broken into florets
Potato – 2 medium, chopped
Onion – 1 medium
Green chilies – 4, chopped fine
Turmeric – 1 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1tsp
Ginger + Garlic paste – 1 tsp
Garam masala – 1 tsp
Coriander powder – 1 tsp
Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Salt – to taste
Method:

• Heat 1tbsp oil in a pan; add cumin seeds and after they crackle, add turmeric, ginger + garlic paste and fry for 30 seconds.
  
• Add chilies and onions and fry till onions turn golden.
  
• Add potatoes and cauliflower florets, 1 cup water and mix. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or till they turn tender.
  
• Add garam masala, powders, salt and mix gently taking care not to break the florets. Let the gravy simmer for 5 minutes to thicken the gravy.
  
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rice or chapatti.