Amti is the marathi word for dal. Its a little thin in consistency. Its made a little sour-sweet by adding tamarind water and jaggery. Make basic tadka (oil+mustard seeds+asafoetida+curry leaves), then add cooked dal to it. Add water. Then salt, chilli powder, maharashtrian goda/kala masala. Let it boil. Then add tamarind paste and jaggery. A little dry grated coconut. And cilantro for garnishing.
This is a simple appetizer from Maharashtra.I prefer to end my meal with some solkadi and rice.I hope you all will like it as much as I do. Solkadi Grind some grated coconut,green chillies with some water.Strain it.Again add some water and grind.Again strain it.Collect the coconut milk.In a bowl soak some kokum or aamsul (Garcinia indica) in some warm water for 15 minutes.Add some salt and the strained coconut milk.Stir it.Add some coriander.If you want while grinding you can add 1 or 2 cloves of garlic.Or instead of the green chillies you can add some carom seeds about 1/4 tsp while grinding.Each ingredient imparts a different flavour.
Ansa phansa chi bhaji (Pineapple and jackfruit curry) 1 cup cubed ripe pineapple 1 cup chopped ripe jackfruit 1 cup cubed ripe mango (use a hard variety like totapuri) 1 tsp turmeric Add the above to a pan with a cup of water and let boil. You may want to add the pineapple a couple of mins before the other fruits if it is not very ripe. Keep turning the fruits after every couple of mins and check water level. The curry should have a thick consistency so don't add too much water. For masala: 1 tbsp mustard seeds 2 tbsp fresh grated coconut 1 tsp red chilli powder (or to your taste) Salt per your taste. Dry roast the mustard seeds till they start popping. Grind to a fine paste with the coconut, salt and chilli powder. After the fruits are well cooked, add the masala to the pan and mix well. Turn off the heat and keep a lid on the curry to trap the steam. Tempering: 1-2 tsp coconut oil (or any other oil) 1 tsp mustard seeds 1/2 tsp hing 1 sprig curry leaves. Add mustard seeds to hot oil followed by hing and curry leaves. Pour over the curry and close the lid immediately. Keep it closed for a min at least. If the fruits are very sour, you may want to add jaggery. If they are too sweet, you could add a bit of tamarind paste. This curry is sweet, sour and spicy. Let me know if you try it and how it turns out.
Here are some easy recipes- Batata/Ratalycha kees (Grated potato/sweet potato snack)-In a pan add some ghee.Then add jeera,green chillies and stir.Then add grated potato/sweet potato and stir well.Cover it with a plate and put some water on it and allow to cook.Then add coarse groundnut powder,sugar and salt and cook for while. Sandan (Sweet idli)-In a bowl take some mango puree/mashed bananas/pumpkin puree/jackfruit puree/pineapple paste.Add grated jaggery and mix it well.Add some salt and roasted semolina.Mix well.Add some coconut milk or milk if needed.Put it in greased idli moulds and steam. Potato bhujne-In a vessel mix some finely chopped onions,ginger,garlic,turmeric,green chillies and salt.Add a tsp of oil and potato slices and mix well.Cover it with a plate and putting some water on it allow it to cook.Serve.
Vaatli Daal (grounded dal): I hope Ladies you will like this.. not sure if this has been already discussed here or not... but one of the easiest dishes... This simple, easy but tasty dish will be loved by all. This is a specific Maharashtrian dish- And there are lots of memories for me because of this dish. This is prepared during a particular month only in Marathi tradition, though you can prepare it anytime. It is prepared during the Chaitra Month (1st month in Marathi calender- which is roughly March or April ) and ladies are called for a Haldi Kumkum, which is a tradition followed by all married ladies, in which married women exchange Haldi(Turmeric) and Kumkum(Vermilion) as a symbol of their married status and wishing for their husbands' long lives. It also signifies start of summer, so, raw mango juice, which is called as panhe is also given along-with this vaatli daal. Vaatli in english means - Grounded and Daal is Dal. ngredients : Chana Dal (chick pea) – 2 cups Green chilies (chopped) – 4 medium sized Curry leaves – 6 – 7 Mustard seeds – ½ teaspoon Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon Cumin seeds – ½ teaspoon Asafoetida – ½ teaspoon Oil – 3 tablespoons Sugar – 2 teaspoon Salt – to taste Ginger (grated) – 1 ½ teaspoon Lemon juice – 1 tablespoon. Coriander springs (finely chopped) – to garnish Freshly grated coconut – to garnish Procedure : 1. Soak the chana dal in water for 3-4 hours. After it becomes soft grind this dal very finely in the grinder. Add little water to grind it well. 2. In a thick bottomed pan or kadhai heat oil. Add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Let it crackle. 3. Now add the turmeric powder, asafetida, green chilies, ginger and curry leaves. 4. Now add the grounded dal. Add the salt and sugar and sauté on medium flame till the dal completely dries up and there are no lumps left. 5. Now add the lemon juice and mix well and sauté for another minute. 6. Sprinkle chopped coriander and freshly desiccated coconut and serve hot. Tips: Do not add too much water while soaking. Add water till all the dal gets completely soaked. You can soak the dal overnight for best results. You can grind chili along-with the dal. It gives a nice taste to the dal.
Since Ganesh Festival is just next week, I thought of sharing favorite recipe of Lord Ganesha here. There are various ways of doing Modak. Some people use dry coconut for filling, some use the freshly grated coconut. If you use freshly grated coconut, Modak has to be consumed very fast. You can add various dry fruits by grating or slicing them. I like to add cardamon to the filling. Filling gives a very different delicious taste if you slightly heat the freshly grated coconut with some dry fruits and cardamon. Add sugar later after cooling this heated filling, it releases water if you add when you are heating, and the filing becomes wet which is not good. Keep stiring while you heat. This method is easy for Ladies preparing Modak for the first time. Usually, everywhere in Maharashtra, when celebrate Ganesh Chaturathi every month the following method is used. It is quick and esay: Following is the method used by me while making Modak: Ingredients: 1 cup maida(All -purpose flour)/ Wheat Flour/ rice Flour (I usually use Wheat Flour) Salt Oil for deep frying Filling: 3/4 cup coconut (Grated driesd, frozen, freshly grated) 1/2 cup jaggery / sugar (I use sugar, but Jaggery gives a different taste and is widely used too) 1/2 tea spn cardamom powder 1 tea spn sesame seeds (This is the special requirement as it is said Lord Ganesha likes Seasme seeds) some dry fruits of your choice. Method: Heat 2 tbl spns of oil and add it to maida. Mix it very well till all the maida gets the oil. Add salt and water to make it a very stiff dough. Keep aside the dough for around 1/2 an hour. Roast the sesame seeds.Prepare the filling by heating or if you do not heat and add all the ingredients together is also fine.Mix sesame seeds well. Remove from heat and add cardamom powder and dry fruits. Mix well. Take small balls of the dough, roll it into small puris (if the puri becomes too thick, the modaks get a rubbery texture). Keep a round ball of stuffing on the puri and cover with the dough to give modak shape. Heat oil and deep fry the modaks. Some people also add khoya/khawa and sooji/semolina. I have not tried that any time. Wish to try it this time. There is a tradition to prepare one karanji (in marathi)/Gujiya (in hindi) with Modak becuase it is considered as younger sister of Modak. Tradition is to always prepare odd no of Modak like 5, 11,21 and one Karanji with it. Wish you all a very Happy Ganesh Chaturthi !
