Recipe - Makhane Ki Sabzi

You guys know how much I am influenced by my mom’s cooking. Her ability to consistently churn out the same recipe with same precision year after year is what blows me over. One of such recipes is this Makhane ki Sabzi. Makhana or Lotus Nut is one of the most beautiful yet underused ingredients according to me. Usually it’s fried and eaten as an evening snack or added in panjiri and kheer. While there are various regional recipes, I have rarely seen restaurant menus using it creatively. Coming back to the recipe, this sabzi was a hit among my parents’ friends and we’d host special dinners and lunches where she made makhane ki sabzi and naan. Trust me, no one even cared for chicken and mutton. Yup, it’s that good.

You can also check out this recipe on Local Banya's blog and if you intend to cook it go buy the ingredients from their aisle right away.

Ingredients:
100 gms makhana (chopped)
25 raisins (chopped)
10 cashew nuts (chopped)
10 almonds (chopped)
4 chuhara (chopped)
50 gms green peas
2 dry red chillies
2 green cardamom
1 clove
1/2 inch piece of cinnamon
2 tbsp ghee
1 cup milk
1/4 tsp pepper powder
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed pan.
2. Throw in red chillies, clove, cinnamon and cardamom and fry for few seconds.
3. Add makhana, raisins, cashew nuts, almonds, chuhara and green peas. Fry them for two minutes.
4. Add milk and let it cook till the milk thickens.
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Serve with roti, paratha or best, with naan.

You can make it richer by adding mawa or khoa instead of milk. Decorate it with dry fruits and cinnamon stick for better presentation. 

Holi Recipe - Nutella Stuffed Coconut Laddoo

I am back with another Holi recipe and this time it's in association with Local Banya. I am the #BloggerBanya of the month on their blog and will create two recipes for them with the ingredients bought from their aisles. You can read more about me as #BloggerBanya here and can also checkout the recipe here.

There’s so much fun in making colourful food especially during Holi. My mom used to make these saffron, white and green coconut laddoos every year and even though I don’t like coconut sweets much, I would eat the laddoos happily. I’ve added a little twist to that recipe with a surprise ingredient - yup, It's Nutella. Imagine what would life be if Michel Ferrero wouldn't have created this magic spread. Yeah, yeah! We would've still been thinner but also so-so unhappy. So this recipe is revisiting my childhood Holi and a little tribute to the chocolate genius.

Ingredients:

250 gms dry coconut powder 
200 gms Nestle Milkmaid100 gms Nutella (you won't use it all)1 tsp each of saffron and green food colours (use natural colours if you're allergic to synthetic stuff)50 gms dry coconut powder (to coat the laddoos)

Method:

1. Divide the coconut powder into three equal parts. 
2. Add saffron colour in one, green in another and leave the third one plane. 
3. Mix Milkmaid in each of them to make firm and skightly sticky dough. 
4. Take a tennis ball size portion of the dough, make a bowl of it, fill 1/2 tsp Nutella in it and pack it like a laddoo. You can take a little more dough to pack it properly. 
5. Coat these laddoos with dry coconut powder.

Store this laddoos in the refrigerator for up to a week. Bring them to room temperature before eating so that you get that gooey Nutella inside. Eat well, play safe and have a Happy Holi.

Holi Recipes - Kali Gajar Ki Kanji

Kanji is a famous drink made during Holi in north India. It comes close second to the bhang mixed thandai. The water mixed with mustard seeds, salt and asafoetida is fermented for a few days and then mixed with kali gajar or beet root. Deep fried moong dal and urad dal wadas are added to sometimes. A good kanji should have strong kick of mustard and a potential to give you a good high. 

Ingredients

2 ltrs water 

2 tsp mustard (the fine Benarsi variety)

1/4 tsp asafoetida 

Salt to taste 

200 gms kali gajar or beetroot

Method

1. Warm the water and keep it aside. 
2. Grind the mustard and mix it in the water along with asafoetida and salt. 
3. Store it in a glass jar and keep it in sun for two days. 
4. On the second day add sliced and lightly boiled kali gajar or beetroot and keep it for another day. 
5. Once it's nicely sour and fermented, open it and serve. 

Holi Recipes - Dahi ki Gujiya

Holi is almost here and the festival always reminds me of late night gujiya making sessions. We used to shift the gas stove in the living room where Mom would pack the gujiyas and Dad would fry them. I never cared for the sweet gujiyas much. My favourites were all the savoury things that Mom would make - mathri, papdi chaat, namakpare etc. Her speciality though was dahi ki gujiya also called dahi wade or dahi bhalle. Mom's version had a filling of green chillies, raisins and ginger in it which was like surprise packed inside the gujiya. Take a bite and you would suddenly get sweet and spicy taste. Today I am sharing the recipe of my mom's famous dahi ki gujiya. Try it and you'll forget the best of dahi wadas you'd have eaten.

Ingredients

For Gujiyas

500 gms white urad dal (soaked overnight)

1/4 cup chopped green chillies

1/4 cup chopped raisins

1/4 cup chopped ginger

1/4 tsp hing (asafoetida)

Oil for deep frying

For Chutney

1 cup jaggery

1/2 cup tamarind pulp

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

For Serving

500 gms thick curd
2 tsp sugar
Chopped green coriander
A mix of salt, red chilli powder and roasted cumin powder (1 tsp each)

Method

1. Drain the water from the soaked urad dal and grind it into thick paste.
2. Mix hing in this paste. We won't add salt so that you can store the gujiyas for longer.
3. Heat oil in a wok. Take some paste in your hand, keep some chopped chillies, raisins and ginger in the centre, close it to shape it like a gujiya and deep fry till it turns golden.
4. Remove the gujiyas from oil and instantly drop them in a bowl full of salted water which will discard excess oil and soften the gujiyas. But if you're planning to store them for later then don't do it right away. You can soak the gujiyas in salted warm water half an hour before serving.
5. Heat tamarind pulp in a pan, add jaggery and red chilli powder and heat it till it turns into a thick chutney. Let it cool down completely. Yu can store it in the fridge for later.
6. Add sugar to curd and whisk it.
7. Now squeeze out excess water from gujiyas and place them in a bowl. Tp them with whisked curd, chutney, season with spice mix, garnish with coriander and serve.

Recipe: Akuri or Egg Bhurji

Anda bhurji, ande ki bhujiya, akuri, khagina or masala scrambled eggs - there are so many different names and variations of this simple breakfast. The North Indians make it with onion-tomatoes and simply eat it with bread, it gets a delicate name Khagina in Lucknow and Hyderabad where it's made with added masala and eaten with crisp parathas. In Maharashtra it's bhurji and eaten with pav. I’ve eaten the bhurji in a South Indian colleague’s dabba and it was flavoured with curry leaves. Trust me, it was really good and I am not the person who loves curry leaves in everything. The egg loving Parsis have their own version called akuri. My recipe here is more on the lines of akuri. I’ve added a touch of spicyness with East Indian bottle masala - a mix of red chillies, kebabchini, cumin, coriander, cloves, cardamom and a number of other spices.

Ingredients:
4 Eggs
2 Medium sized onions
2 Tomatoes
3 Cloves Garlic
1/2 Inch piece of Ginger
1 Green Chilli
1/2 tsp East Indian bottle masala
1/2 tsp Cumin powder
1 tbsp Milk
1/2 Lime
Green Coriander for garnishing
Salt to taste
1 tbsp oil

Method:

1. Finely chop onions, tomatoes, chilli, ginger and garlic. 
2. Beat the eggs in a bowl. Add milk. 
3. Saute onions in a pan. 
4. Throw in tomatoes, chilli, ginger, garlic, cumin powder and East Indian bottle masala. 
5. Fry the masala for 5 mins.
6. Add eggs and salt and cook till the eggs are done but still a little moist. 
7. Spritz lime juice, garnish with coriander and eat with pav.

Exploring Lucknow’s Vegetarian Side

Lucknow, like any other small Indian town, is a slow city. A city which runs at its own pace, lazily. There are few things that'll get the city folks up and running. But mention Netram Ajay Kumar’s jalebi and you’ll find them dressed, out of the house, on their two wheelers in a flash, that too early in the morning. The more than 100 year old shop (it’s been there since 1854) in the middle of Aminabad has been a favourite of many generations. A huge

crowd waiting for golden jalebis and khasta in the morning boasts of its popularity. It’s one thing to eat the thick, crisp, sugar syrup loaded jalebis at Netram and another thing to watch them being made. The old halwai, sitting with a composure that’ll shame the trained chefs, drops batter from a brass tumbler into hot oil with quick flicks of his wrist. Ask him to pose for a pick and he’ll do it with an ease of a filmstar, while still doing his job at the same speed. To balance out the sweetness of jalebis there’s khasta - deep fried flaky pastry stuffed with urad dal paste, served with spicy chhole, chutneys and onions. The khasta-jalebi breakfast is what Lucknow wakes up to, almost every day.

While Netram holds the reigns where jalebi is concerned, there are multiple favourites for khasta. Some for quality and other for pure nostalgia. Durga Khasta Corner in Hussainganj is another popular khasta joint where you’ll find a huddle of guys getting their morning fix or getting khastas packed for the whole family. The USP here is the pasty chhole scooped over hot khastas. 

At Netram, breakfast gets over by 10 and the shop gets ready for lunch. Puffed kachoris

stuffed with urad dal bobbing in hot oil, practiced hands making imartis and constant orders of kachori thali is what an afternoon looks like here. The thali has four crisp, double fried kachoris, potato curry, dry pumpkin sabzi, dry potato and cauliflower sabzi, bottle gourd raita and sweet chutney - the last one is so good it’ll make you take some home. Ask nicely and the waiter will happily pack some for you. Wrap up this meal with imarti or ras malai.

Want to make the Kachori Thali at Home? Check out recipe here.

As the Sun sets the city gets ready to take on the varity of chaat sold at every nook and corner. A hop, skip and jump away from Netram there's a small shop at the corner of the street, Shree Kalika Chaat House. They're making chaat since the days of my grandfather and great grandfather and the size of the shop and quality of food is still intact. Try the pani ke batashe here with spicy and tangy pani. The papdi chaat is a package of flavours - flat and crisp puris topped with potato, boiled white peas, red chutney, green chutney and a special masala sprinkled on top. The matar ki tikki, a Lucknow speciality is a simple preparation of pan fried boiled white peas garnished with chaat masala, green coriander and a spritz of lime. Don’t leave without eating their gulab jamuns - small, bite sized and full of sugar syrup. Walk exactly 10 steps to Prakash Kulfi for one of the best kulfis in Lucknow. The shop has been there since ages and serves just one flavour - kesar pista. 

If you loved Kalika’s chaat, wait till you go to Pt. Ramnarayan Tiwari Chaat Wala in Ganeshganj. The old shop is divided between two brothers so make sure you go to the one on the right. The chaat at Tiwari needs your complete attention so be suffeciently hungry and not in a rush. Start from pani ke batashe right outside the shop. The crisp batashas are filled with boiled white pea and spicy-tangy water in four different flavours - hing (asafoetida), lime, sweet with tamarind and a spicy one. Try the hing one and you’ll go for the second plate. All the waters have right amount of tang and spice. Once you’ve laid the geoundwork for the evening with batashas, move on to matar ki tikki - the one served here is better, crispier and spicier than Kalika. Aloo ki  tikki with whisked yogurt, sweet chutney garnished with thin potato wafers, green coriander and chaat masala is a burst of flavours. The dahi wadas are good too but the curd is tad too sweet sometimes. If you manage to save some stomach space after the tikki have a grand finish with tokri chaat - it's a basket of deep fried potatoes stuffed with aloo tikki, wada, papdi, dahi, chutney and garnished with pomegranate, chopped coriander and chaat masala. Lucknow takes immense pride in its tokri chaat so yes, go for it. 

Another famous chaat place here is Royal Cafe in Hazratganj. It's said that in the good old

days ordering food from Royal Cafe was the sign of being wealthy. You can try the chaat if you’re in the area. However, I’d still suggest that you go to Tiwari. But while you are Ganjing (roaming around in Hazratganj is called that) go and eat the dahi wadas at Gupta - a small wagon which is parked right outside Vallabhbhai Park in the evening. His dahi wadas are chilled, soft with creamy dahi.

Want to take a break from the chaat? Go to Burma Bakery in Ganj and buy their butter biscuits, cake rusk and jeera biscuit. 

One of the best things about eating in North India is the dhaba experience, and no I don’t mean a fancy restaurant dressed up as dhaba. I mean the real experience where you get in, eat and get out. Pappu Da Dhaba near Lucknow University is one such place; famous among students and working bachelors for its cheap and homely food. It's a small eatery on the road side with rickety wooden tables and benches where strangers share tables. The menu rotates and has dal, a dry sabzi, a paneer dish, egg curry, kadhi on some days and soft tandoori roti. The food is simple, not very spicy and unlike regular dhabas low on oil. You also get ande ki bhujiya with bread and parathas for breakfast. 

Lucknow is definitely a city rich with non-vegetarian food - kebabs, biryani, curries and kormas. But for every non-vegetarian dish there's an equally good vegetarian dish which I am trying to explore. More when I visit my hometown next. 

A Punjabi food haven in Mumbai

Being anywhere remotely close to Matunga East for me has always meant eating at one of the South Indian joints. A lot of our working saturdays (my office is in Matunga West) are planned around going for a Keralan meal at Mani’s Lunch Home or wolfing down hot rasam-vadas and paniyarams at Arya Bhawan. Two weeks ago when I planned a trip to Shanmukhanand in Sion to attend a concert, my brain was already hatching ideas to eat at either Arya Bhawan or the legendary Mysore Cafe.

On Sunday afternoon we drove to Sion and I suddenly realized that I was a hop, skip and jump away from Sion Koliwada. Which meant that Chawla’s chole-kulche joint mentioned by Gaurav on his blog (Eating Out In Bombay) was somewhere here. I asked around and we paced towards the area which was soon to become a mini Punjabi food paradise for me in Mumbai.

The tandoors (clay ovens) outside every shop took me back to my childhood when every summer holiday was spent eating rotis straight out of these tandoors. My nana-nani’s (maternal grandparents) village in district Udhamsingh Nagar was inhabited by Punjabis and there wasn’t a single house without a large tandoor in its courtyard. After the last game of eye-spy or langdi-kabaddi when we walked back home in the evening, calls of "rotti kha le" (come have food) from every home would entice us; their doors always stood ajar to welcome whoever was passing by.