Amma Jevayala

Adrak wali Chai - the only thing we really look forward to having on Friday evening :) Quantity - 2 people Ingredients : Water - 2 cup Milk - 1 cup Ginger (Adrak) - 2 inches finely grates Cardamom pods - 5/6 broken or crushed Sugar - as per taste ( we make sugarless and then I add sugar separately from top) Chai Powder - Girnar brand from India - 2 and half tsp Fennel - crushed 1/2 tsp (this is very optional as fennel overpowers the ginger flavour - so very rarely, we add it while boiling - for some change) Appliance Needed: Chai filter Procedure: 1. Start boiling water on medium flame . 2. Into this , add grated ginger and cardamom crushed . Stir everything well and let this water boil for at least 7/8 mins 3. Now to the boiling water , add chai powder and stir well . Let this boil for 2 mins 4. After 2 mins ,add milk and mix everything well . Flame is still medium . 5. Allow everything to boil and once the chai boils nicely and you see the milk boiling over , ...

Mathri - crispy and spicy snacks to enjoy with Chai Quantity : 40 regular sized mathris Ingredients: Whole wheat aata - 2 cups Fine rava - 1/4th cup Ajwain seeds - 2 tbsp Red chilli powder - 1 tbsp Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp Coriander powder - 1/2 tbsp Kasuri Methi - 1 and 1/2 tbsp Haldi - pinch (optional) Salt as per taste Home made ghee - 1 tbsp Peanut oil - for frying Water - for kneading Procedure: 1. Take whole wheat aata + rava and mix all the other spices + salt + ghee  together very well. 2. Add water slowly and knead into a very stiff dough - let it rest for 10 mins 3. Now start heating the oil in a kadai 4. After 10 mins , start making small disks using the dough and also prick them with a fork on both sides . 5. After the oil is hot enough , start frying the mathris - fry on medium heat and fry till you get nice golden brown color - not too light and not too dark as well . 6. Remove them in a container lined with napkin - this will remove the excess ...

Keerai Molagootal - comfort dish which can be relished for lunch time with some steamed rice Quantity - 2 people lunch Ingredients: Spinach - 1 bag of spinach leaves Toor dal - 1 cup Fresh grated coconut - 1/2 cup Whole red chillies - 4/5 for grinding Cumin seeds/Jeera - 1 tsp Mustard seeds - to temper Hing - to temper Haldi - to temper Whole red chillies - 1/2 to temper Salt - as per taste Water - to cook Peanut oil - to temper Appliance needed: Preeti Mixer Procedure: 1. Cook toor dal with enough water and pinch of haldi in a pressure cooker. Mash it nicely once it is cooked . 2. In a large vessel , take all the spinach leaves , add 1/2 cup of water and close the vessel with lid to blanch the spinach . This might take 2/3 mins . Then reduce the flame to sim for 5 mins . 3. Now after the spinach is blanched properly and cooled , blend it in a mixer to a smooth paste . Some people like to keep it a bit chunky - you can do any ways which you like. 4. Remove t...

Shrikhand Puri Bhaji - the best combo to relish especially on Gudhi Padwa Quantity : For 2 people dinner Shrikhand : Ingredients : Greek Yogurt - Fage variety A pinch of saffron soaked in 2 tbsp of warm milk Nutmeg - 1/2 tsp Cardamom powder or freshly crushed - 1/2 tsp Finely chopped nuts : almonds , pista , cashews (optional - i personally don't like anything in my shrikhand) Mango pulp - seasonal - 1 cup of fresh mango pulp Raw Sugar powdered - 3/4 th cup . Can use more if you need more sweet Muslin cloth - to hang yogurt overnight Procedure: 1. In a muslin cloth , empty the yogurt and hang it to your tap overnight . This will help in straining the yogurt further to get rid of any excess water and whey . Greek yogurt is already strained yogurt . So you can skip this step if you like your shrikhand to be a bit runny. 2. Once the yogurt is strained (or not if using greek) , take a big mixing bowl and add the raw powdered sugar to the yogurt . Start mixing the tw...

Mattha - this spiced buttermilk is an all-time favorite cooling drink to finish off a heavy meal . It helps to balance off the spices and flavours from a heavy Indian meal Quantity - 2 people/2 glasses Ingredients : Whole milk yogurt - 1 cup Water - 2 cups Ginger - grated half inch Coriander leaves - 4/5 strands Hing - few pinches for taste Salt - regular or can use kala namak as well Appliance needed: Preeti Mixer Procedure : 1. Take yogurt and all the other ingredients into a mixer and blend it well .Ensure coriander and ginger are well blended so that there won't be any pieces left . 2. Add more water if it is too thick and adjust consistency . You can also add some chat masala or 1/2 green chillies while grinding to make it more spicy . But overall , this is a cooling drink , so ginger and hing gives this a very good flavour . 3. You can keep it in the fridge or add some ice cubes to keep it chilled and ready to serve . Relish along with spicy Masale Bhaa...

Masale Bhaat - the one dish without which every event/festival is incomplete in a Maharashtrian home Quantity - 2/3 people lunch Ingredients : Basmati Rice - 2 cups Green peas - frozen and defrosted - 1/4th cup Baby potatoes - 4 with skin and cubed Ivy Gourd (optional - either use this or peas & potatoes) - 1 cup vertically chopped Goda Masala - Mom made or brought from India 2/3 tbsp Coconut Milk - 1 cup Water - 2 cups for cooking Mustard seeds - to temper Haldi - to temper Red chilli powder - little 3/4 finely chopped green chillies Hing - to temper Curry leaves - 1 strand to temper Cashews - 10/15 to temper Fresh dry masala - 1 tbsp coriander seeds , 4 cloves , 1 tbsp jeera/cumin seeds , 1 cinnamon stick Salt- as required for taste Peanut oil and homemade ghee - to temper Fresh coriander leaves - finely chopped for garnish Fresh grated coconut - for garnish Appliance Needed: Instant pot Procedure: 1. Soak 2 cups of basmati rice for at least 15...

Hot Piping Rasam - flavoured by MIL's Rasam podi Quantity - 2 people lunch Ingredients: Toor dal - 3/4th cup Water - 4 cups Tamarind - small ball soaked in warm water for 15 mins Tomates - deseeded 2 small or 1 big Curry leaves - to temper Mustard seeds - to temper Hing - to temper Haldi - to temper Mint leaves - 1 strand (optional) Coriander leaves - finely chopped 2 strands Salt - to taste as required Home made ghee - to temper MIL's Rasam podi - main flavoring 3 tbsp (recipe will be provided later) Procedure: 1. First cook the Toor dal with 1.5 cup of water in pressure cooker . Add pinch of haldi while cooking. After it is cooked , thoroughly mash it and keep it ready 2. Take out all the tamarind pulp and extract from the soaked tamarind . 3. Now in a kadai or sauce pan , boil the tamarind extract with 1.5 cups of water . Add pinch of haldi and hing while boiling . 4. To this boiling extract , add finely chopped tomatoes and allow everything to cook...

Paneer Paratha - good saturday night dinner option Quantity - 5/6 regular size parathas Ingredients : Wheat flour - 3 cups Water - to knead the flour Paneer - 200 gms (Nanak variety) Green chillies - 3/4 as per spice finely chopped Ginger - 1 inch very finely grated Cumin powder - 1 tbsp Red chilli powder - 1 tbsp Haldi - a pinch Ajwain - Finely crushed 1 tbsp Fennel seeds - Finely crushed- 1 tbsp Coriander - fresh and finely chopper - 5/6 strands Black pepper - finely crushed 1 tbsp Amchur - 2 pinches (optional) Salt to taste Oil - to knead Home made ghee - to roast Procedure: 1. Start making the dough for paratha by kneading the wheat flour . Knead into a semi soft dough and then add 1 tsp of oil and let it rest for half hr 2. To make the filling , grate the paneer using a grater . Use the bigger holes of the grater . 3. Now to this grated paneer add all the remaining ingredients - green chillies chopped finely , ginger grated finely , red chilli powder , ...

Coriander Coconut Chutney - The 3C's Quantity - 2 people Ingredients : Fresh grated Coconut - 1 cup Fresh Coriander leaves - 1/2 bunch Green chillies chopped into small pieces-3/4 as per spice Ginger - 1/2 inch chopped into small pieces Roasted chana/Dalia - 1/4th cup Salt to taste Water as required Optional - Mustard seeds - to temper Urad dal - to temper Hing to temper Red whole chillies - 2 to temper Curry leaves - 1 strand to temper Peanut oil - to temper Appliance needed: Preeti Mixer Procedure: 1. Take all ingredients except the optional ones and salt and grind into a smooth paster in a mixer . As water slowly as required to avoid making the chutney too runny 2. Remove the chutney from mixer into a bowl . Add salt and mix well 3. Heat the oil in a small pan for tadka . Put all items to temper and mix it with the chutney once hot enough . 4. Mix well . Server it as a dip with your favorite idli, dosa , sevai , adai or just simple eat with hot cha...

Holi special Puranachi Poli ! Quantity - 7/8 puran polis Ingredients : For Puran- Chana dal - 1 cup Jaggery - 1 cup Nutmeg- little for taste Cardamom - little for taste Water - to soak chana dal Salt - a pinch Haldi - a pinch For Poli- Wheat aata - 2 cups Maida - 1/4 th cup Water - to knead the aata Oil - 2 tbsp for making aata Haldi - a pinch Salt - a pinch Homemade ghee - to roast the poli on tawa Appliance needed : Sieve Mixer Procedure: 1.  Soak chana dal in water overnight . Then pressure cook it in instant pot for 20 mins manual mode or pressure cook mode . Also add pinch of haldi and salt while cooking . 2. Once the dal is well cooked , drain all the water and let it dry for atleast 5 mins . Alternatively , if there is lot of water left , you can use it to make a special dal from this water called "katachi amti" 3. Now before we start , making the puran , first lets make the poli aata . For this take the 2 cups wheat flour and 1/4 th c...

Yellow Moong dal Adai - tiffin item with no fermentation required . Quantity - to make 10 Adai Ingredients: Yellow Moong dal - 2 cups Black pepper - 1 tsp Red Whole Chillies - 4/5 as per spice Coriander Hing Salt to taste water - if required to adjust the batter consistency oil - very little to help in cooking the adai from both sides Procedure : 1. Soak the yellow moong dal in enough water for atleast 3 hours . Can soak overnight as well for morning breakfast . Also , you can soak green moong dal or mix of chana dal + moong dal etc . If using whole moong dal , its better to sprout it and then grind it - soaking time will be atleast 7/8 hrs for whole moong dal . 2. Drain all the excess water by using a colander and then grind the dal along with all other items - black peppers , red chillies , coriander and hing 3. Do not add any extra water for grinding and grind it into a smooth paste . Now add salt as required and mi everything well . Batter will be of the consis...

Sabudana Khichadi - our all time sunday morning brunch item around 10:30 am Quantity - For 2 people Ingredients : Sabudana - 1 and 1/2 cup (Upvas variety) Baby potatoes - 3 or 1 big potato 3/4 green chillies - finely chopped as per spice Roasted and crushed peanut powder (danyache koot) - approx 5 tbsp or 1/2 cup Coriander - finely chopped 4/5 strands Jeera/cumin seeds - to temper Hing - to temper Homemade ghee - for tadka Fresh grated coconut - to garnish Water - to soak khichadi Salt to taste Sugar - a pinch Procedure : 1. On the day before making khichadi, there is some pre work required : Soak sabudana in a flat plate or parat (one that is used to make poli aata) . Here make sure that you add water enough to just keep a thin layer over the sabudana . Too much water will make sabudana very soggy . Also for upvas brand of sabudana , I soak it overnight and it becomes very fluffy the next morning . Goal here is to ensure sabudana is soaked well to become flu...

Vermicelli upma - quick instant pot version of upma Quantity - 2 people breakfast Ingredients: Bambino Vermicelli - 1 cup Carrot - 1 finely cubed Onion - 1/2 finely chopped Green Peas - 1/2 cup French beans - 1/4th cup (optional) Sweet corn - 1/4th cup (optional) Mustard seeds - to temper Hing - to temper Cashew - fistful to temper Curry leaves - one strand to temper Urad day - 1/2 tbsp to temper Green chillies - 2/3 to temper as per spice Ginger - finely grated one inch to temper Water - 2 cups Salt - as per taste Peanut oil - to temper Appliance Needed Instant Pot Procedure: 1. Start the instant pot in Saute mode and put peanut oil to become hot 2. While the oil is getting hot , finely chop all the vegetables to be added in upma . I usually use carrots ,peas and onions .But you can also put french beans , corn , green peppers etc . 3. Once the oil is hot , add tadka items - mustard seeds , hing , cashew , chillies , ginger , curry leaves and fry everyth...

Rava cake - timeless evening snacks made with chai by my Aaji . She made in pressure cooker , but I tried the same recipe in Oven and came out really tasty Quantity - One Loaf of Rava Cake Ingredients: Fine Rava - 2 cups Curd/plain yogurt - 1 cup Whole Milk - 1 cup Raw Sugar - 1 and 1/2 cup Home made ghee - 1 and 1/2 tbsp and some more for lining the Tin Baking Soda - 1 tsp Local Cocoa powder - to sprinkle on top (optional) Appliance Needed: Preeti Mixer Loaf Tin 5" x 9" (can use any other round cake tin as well) Oven Procedure: 1. Firstly mix Milk , Ghee and Sugar together in mixer and start preheating the oven to 350 F 2. Now take a steel vessel and add this milk mixture and all the remaining ingredients - curd , Rava and finally baking soda . 3. Mix everything nicely and slowly . 4. Now grease the loaf tin with some more ghee on all the sides and pour the batter made in step 3 . 5.  In this time , the oven must be preheated to 350 F . So put th...

Cabbage Dal Vada : Variation of regular Dal Vada - fried tiffin item with goodness of different types of dals Quantity : 12 regular sized dal vadas Ingredients: Chana dal - 3/4th cup Urad dal - 1/4th cup Toor dal - 1/4 th cup 2 cups grated or finely cut cabbage 3/4 green chillies as per spice level Coriander  - 5/6 strands finely chopped Curry leaves - 1 whole strand finely chopped Jeera/cumin seeds - 1 tsp Haldi - a pinch for color Hing - a pinch Grated ginger - a inch (optional) Peanut oil - for deep frying (can use any other oil too ) Water  3 cups- to soak dal for 2 hrs atleast Salt to taste Appliance Needed: Preeti Mixer Colander for removing excess soaking water Procedure: 1. First take all the dals together in a steel vessel and soak in about 3 cups of water for atleast 2 hrs . 2. After 2 hrs of soaking , drain all the water and keep the dal mix in a colander to dry for atleast 5 mins 3. Now grind the dal in mixer . Make sure you do not ad...

Dadpe Pohe - Recipe by Aaji and Aai made for evening khau/faral/tiffin Quantity : 2 people Ingredients: Thin Poha (Nylon or super thing variety of Swad brand) - 6/7 full hand fists 1 onion - medium size 1 tomato - medium size 3 small green chillies Peanuts - small hand fist Peanut oil - required for tadka Mustard seeds - to temper Hing - to temper Haldi - to temper Sugar - one small pinch for taste Salt - as per taste Lemon - half to squeeze Fresh grated coconut - to garnish (optional) Procedure: 1. Take a kadai or a skillet and start dry roasting the thin poha . Ensure the poha is not burnt , but becomes crunchy enough 2. In the meanwhile , finely cut onion , tomato and green chillies . 3. Take a steel vessel and put the cut onion , tomatoes in this . 4. Once the poha turns crunchy and is roasted well , remove from gas and add it to the onion , tomato mixture . 5. Now in the same kadai/skillet , heat peanut oil for tadka . 6. While the oil is getting hot...

Pineapple Kesari - Favorite MIL made tiffin/sweet dish Quantity : For 4/5 people Recipe by MIL Ingredients: Fine Rava - 1 cup Raw Sugar - 1 cup Homemade Ghee - 1/2 cup Water - 3 cups Fresh Pineapple pieces - 1 and 1/2 cup Cardamom - little for taste Cashew pieces - 6/7 Kesar - few strands Milk - 1 tbsp for kesar Appliance Needed: Preeti Mixer Procedure: 1. In a kadai ,  fry cashew and keep aside. Also warm up the milk and add kesar strands to get color . 2. Then in same kadai, fry rava with one tsp ghee till it turns slightly brown.Keep aside. 3. Now in another saucepan , start boiling the 3 cups of water . 4. In this water , add sugar and allow it to melt . 5. Now take the pineapple pieces and blend them in the mixer . Do not blend into fine puree . Blend them into chunky puree . 6. Now add this pineapple chunky puree into the sugar water and bring everything to boil for 2 minutes 7. Once the sugar +pineapple water is boiling , start adding the roast...

Classic Maharashtrian Breakfast recipe : Quantity : For 2 people Ingredients : Thick Poha (Swad variety) - 5/6 full hand fists Half medium size onion - finely chopped 2/3 small thai green chillies (can increase if you want more spicy) Peanuts with skin - small fistful Coriander - finely chopped for garnish Fresh coconut - little for garnish and enhance the dish Lemon - half to squeeze Hing - to temper Mustard seeds - to temper Haldi - to temper Curry leaves - one strand to temper Peanut oil - for cooking Salt - to taste Appliance Needed Colander to soak Poha Procedure: 1. Heat a kadai and add peanut oil as required to heat 2. Once the oil is hot , start tempering . First goes mustard seeds , hing , turmeric , peanuts , curry leaves and green chillies finely chopped 3. Ensure everything is properly fried and take care that the tadka is not burned . 4. In couple of minutes , after the tadka is well done and the peanuts are roasted nicely , add the  fine...