Category Archives: Vegetarian

Mango Pickle – Keri jo Aathnu

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Mango Pickle

Methi (fenugreek) Mango Pickle

Summer, Oh wonderful Summer!! We wait endlessly for summer to roll on by and when it does… It seems we get busy pickling, jamming, bottling and stuffing summer into containers to savor in the winter months that lay ahead.

This weekend I picked up a bag full of green mangos, available at this time of the year. If you’ve never had one, maybe this summer will be a first. Green mangos are quite unlike their yellow counterparts. They are quite tart and crunchy to munch on. Basically, they are the raw version of the voluptuous yellow orbs that frequent most grocery stores.

My mum, the best damn cook I know, would cut the unpeeled green mangos into long slivers. Sprinkle them with cayenne pepper and salt, and serve it as a condiment with our main meal of the day. My sister and me, would later make mango pickle sandwiches and eat it as a snack. The pillowy softness of the thick slices of bread slathered with butter and layered with the mangos were absolute perfection… I’m drooling right now! Continue reading →

Dhaar with Vegetables – (Lentil and Vegetable Curry)

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My Mums Recipe

As a child and well into the years after I got married, I absorbed as much as I could from my maternal grandmother regarding her cooking and recipes.  I  would gaze at her for hours, mesmerized by the effortless way she made ingredients come together.  She would make barfee – a sweet Indian confection similar to fudge, with a balanced sweetness complimented by the creaminess of the ghee – that held it together.  It was never overly sweet.  Her rotis were the best I’ve had and, as a matter of fact, many folk lucky enough to be in her realm would vouch for that too.  A hot ghee smeared roti, perfectly toasted on top to reveal a crispy layer against the pillowy softness of the bottom layer, begged to be eaten with her homemade mango jam.

 

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Dhaar with String Beans and Potatoes

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African Banana Puri – Banana Dumpling

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My Grandmother’s Recipe

If you’re craving something not too sweet and delicious with your coffee or tea (chaa), this is the recipe for you.  I won’t beat around the bush, but I struggled a little thinking of the best way to describe this to you.  The puri is not, by all means, meant to be soft and fluffy like a beignet or doughnut.  It is rather solid, moist and crunchy all at once.  I ate these puris countless of times during my childhood.  If I had to put a finger on it, I would say the banana puri  to me is the equivalent of a doughnut to some, that is if we were talking about childhood nostalgic foods.

If you’re lucky enough, when you’re frying the puri’s they puff up into these balloon like disks, creating a hollow center.  I love peeling away this layer and eating it first before polishing off the rest of the banana puri.

Making the dough is a lot of fun and easy.  Although I do love mushing up the bananas, grabbing handfuls of the earthy dough to make the puris is always a treat, they feel grainy, moist and sticky.  Reminding me of making mud pies in the rain…

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Chana Chat-Patti – Tangy Chickpea or Garbanzo Bean Appetizer

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With the Super Bowl coming around in less than a month I have that perfect finger food for your party that will score a touch down or two.  It’s my Chana Chat-Patti!  Round of applause please…. Okay jokes apart, this appetizer is quickly becoming a favorite amongst my friends and family.  And I bet they’ll be fans indefinitely if they know how fast it is to make.

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“Mum! Where’s my chana?”.  And like a dutiful mum, wink, wink, I whip up the Chana Chaat in a jiffy. This is one of my very few, I might add, Super Mum moments.  Well… besides making a dive to catch a one year old jumping off the dining table by the edge of their diaper with only my pinky.  I could go on but before I continue, I’d like to clarify something before I totally confuse you.  The Chana my kids ask for is the Chana Chaat.  They eat it with hot steamy rice dolloped with ghee.  It’s such a comforting meal and tastes absolutely delicious.

However, I do use it as a component for the appetizer in the picture above.  I call it Chana Chat-Patti because of the tang, the crunch and the spice.  Perfect for an afternoon snack with a hot cup of Chaa.  Or with Super Bowl coming around it makes for the perfect finger food. Continue reading →

Moongh Daar – Split Green Lentils Curry

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Moongh Dhar Curry is absolutely delicious eaten as a main course, especially on a blustery cold winter day.  Therefore, recently I have been making it pretty often .  This lentil curry can be eaten with rice or with warm rotis accompanied by a green chilli pickle called Raito.  This will probably the fastest curry you will ever make, perfect for a weeknight!  As long as you’ve made your rotis for the week you are set, I promise.  Out of roti’s for the week?   No problem, spread whole wheat toast (or toast of your choice) with ghee or butter, preferably ghee, then pile on the Moongh Daar and devour!  It’s purely addictive.  Try it out and taste it for yourself, you will not be disappointed 🙂

I guess I should explain a little about the bean itself.  First of all theres are countless ways of spelling so I chose to spell it ‘moongh’, although it’s mostly spelt ‘mung’.  It is a little dried green bean if used whole.  In this recipe I have used split mung beans with the skins removed.  If you prefer, by all means use them whole.  You may have to add a little more water during the cooking process.

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