Falafel

Falafel in Marathi

Time: 35 to 40 minutes
Makes: 8 to 10 medium pieces

Ingredients:
1.5 cups soaked Chickpeas
2 tsp chickpea flour (besan) (tip 1)
3 big Garlic cloves
1 tsp Coriander powder
1/2 tsp Cumin powder
1/2 cup Parsley
2 green chilies or 1/2 tsp red chili powder
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt to taste
oil for deep frying
Pinch of baking soda

Method:
1) Put the soaked chickpeas in a blender. Add garlic cloves, parsley, green chili, salt and lemon juice. Grind to a coarse mixture. Take it out in a medium bowl. Add baking soda, coriander-cumin powder and besan and mix well. Taste the mixture and adjust the seasonings.
2) Heat oil into a kadai. Once oil is hot turn the heat down to medium.
3) Take 1.5 tbsp of mixture and make small ball. Gently, leave it in the oil. Deep fry until golden brown.
Serve hot with cucumber sauce (Tzatziki sauce)

Tips:
1) If the falafel is breaking after adding to oil, add a tbsp chickpea flour to the mixture. Mix well and then start making falafel.
2) It is important to fry falafel over medium heat. If you fry them on high heat, it will turn brown quickly. However they will remain uncooked from the inside. Also, flame shouldn't be very low. Falafel may break into small pieces if they stay in the oil for longer.

Methi Gota Bhajji

Gota Bhaji in Marathi

Time: 25 to 30 minutes
Makes: 15 to 18 medium Bhajji

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Besan (tip 1)
1/2 cup mung dal flour (tip 1)
3 tbsp coarse rava
1/4 cup Kasoori Methi
1 tsp garlic paste
1/2 cup yogurt or as much as needed
Spices: 2 cloves, 2 pinches of cinnamon powder, 1 tsp coriander seeds, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 7-8 black pepper corns - Crush together and make a coarse powder
1 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp hing
2 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp baking soda
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method:
1) Take a mixing bowl. Add besan, mung dal flour, kasoori methi, garlic paste, coarse spice powder, red chili powder, hing, turmeric, sugar and salt. Mix well. Add yogurt, a spoon at a time. Mix and make a semi-thick, sticky batter. Batter should not form a dough, but it should not be runny. Add Baking soda and mix.
2) Heat oil in a kadai. Once oil is hot, reduce the heat to medium to medium-high. Grease your palms. Take a tbsp of mixture and make a smooth round ball without any cracks on the surface. Drop carefully into hot oil. Deep fry until golden brown.
Serve hot with green chutney or Tamarind chutney.

Tips:
1) Use coarse flour to get more nice textured goda bhajji.
2) Pakoda made from doughy batter will remain uncooked from the inside. Opposite to that, you won't be able to form perfect rounds if the batter is loose in consistency. Therefore, make sticky and gooey batter. Use some oil while handling this batter, otherwise the batter will stick to your hand.
3) Kasoori methi gives nice flavor. However, you may add fresh methi leaves instead of kasoori methi.

Rice Flour Chakali

Rice flour Chakali in Marathi

Time: Prep Time- 15 minutes | Cooking time- 20 minutes
Makes: 15 medium chakali

Ingredients:
1 cup Rice Flour
1 cup Water
1/4 cup butter
salt to taste (tip 1)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp green chili paste
Oil for frying

Method:
1) Take rice flour into a deep bowl
2) Take a small pan and heat water in it. Add salt, cumin seeds, chili paste and butter. Let the water boil. Add this boiling water to rice flour and mix with spoon. Cover for 15 minutes.
3) Once mixture becomes warm, knead it.
4) Grease chakali machine with oil. Stuff the mixture in it. Heat sufficient oil in kadai to deep fry chakali. Keep flame beween medium and high.
5) Take small plastic papers (tip 5). Press chakali machine. Slightly rotate the maker round and round until you get a spiral shaped chakali. stick the tip so that it won't open after dropping into hot oil
6) Gently lift the chakali and leave into hot oil. deep fry until golden color. Place deep fried chakali on paper towel.
Once chakalis are completely cooled down, store them into an airtight container.

Tips:
1) When you add salt, taste a drop of water. It should taste little salty than usual. After adding rice flour, the salt will get adjusted.
2) If you want long lasting and crunchy chakalis, fry them till they get nice deep golden color. If you get the chakalis out of oil when they are white, they will taste crunchy at first but they may become soft after a while. Also do not overfry. If color turn dark brown, chakali will taste bitter.
3) Do not fry chakalis over low heat. Chakalis become oily.
4) Rice flour does not have enough gluten. before frying, Rice flour chakali can break while handling. Hence, lift chakali very gently. Also, careful while leaving it into hot oil.
5) Use 5" x 5" plastic paper. Press 1 chakali on 1 paper. It will make easy handling of chakali. Aluminum foil or butter paper can be used instead of Plastic paper.

Garlic Sev

Garlic sev in Marathi

Time: 30 to 40 minutes

Ingredients:
2.5 cups Besan (Approx 325 Grams)
1/2 cup Oil
1/4 cup garlic paste
1/2 cup water
2 tsp green chili paste (Tip)
1 tsp Carom Seeds
1/2 tsp white pepper powder
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method:
1) Mix besan, white pepper powder and salt to taste. Sieve these three ingredients.
2) Heat 1/2 cup oil till smoking point. Add it to besan mixture. Mix with spoon.
3) Heat a tawa and turn off the heat. Lightly toast carom seeds. crush and make coarse powder.
4) Take 1/2 cup hot water. Add green chili paste, crushed carom seeds, and garlic paste. Mix well. Crush garlic and carom seeds with hands. This helps to infuse more flavor to the water. Strain and save the water.
5) Use this water to prepare sev batter. Add little water at a time. Mix it in besan well. Sev batter should be thick and sticky.
6) Grease sev presser from the inside with some oil. Pour Batter in Sev presser.
7) Heat oil in kadai. Press the sev pressing machine clockwise in circular motion. and keep coming in to form smaller circles and finish off when you come to center. Try to keep a single layer for even frying. Do not overlap, otherwise some parts will remain uncooked.
8) Fry over medium high heat. Flip to other side once one side becomes little firm. Do not fry until color changes to brown. It will taste bitter. Place on a paper towel to remove excessive oil. Let it cool down. Crush gently with hands to make Shev.

Tips:
1) Green chili paste can be substituted with red chili powder. However, Sev color becomes reddish due to red chili powder.
2) Quantity of water may vary by few tbsp. Hence add little water at a time. Mix and add if more required.
3) We are not mixing green chili paste, crushed carom seeds, and garlic paste to the flour because they can create problem while pressing sev. Small particles of garlic and carom seeds can get stuck in sev presser and block the flow. Therefore, we have flavors of garlic and carom seeds in water.

Paneer Lollypop

Paneer Lollypop in Marathi

Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4 persons
Ingredients:
1 cup Paneer, grated
2 medium potatoes, boiled
1.5 tsp ginger, grated
1 tsp garlic paste
2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp corn starch
1/4 cup cilantro,finely chopped
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 to 3 green chilies, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
3 tbsp Maida, for dusting
salt to taste
oil to deep fry

8 to 10 ice candy wooden sticks OR baby corns

Method:
1) Peel the potatoes and mash without any lumps.
2) Mix all the ingredients except Maida. Knead well and divide into 8 lemon size balls.
3) Take 1 mixture ball and pierce the candy stick into it. Press gently between your palms to secure it on the stick. This way, prepare all the lollypops.
4) Roll the lollypops in dry maida. Coat lollypops well and shake slightly to remove excess maida.
5) Heat oil to deep fry lollypops. Deep fry over medium heat. Turn occasionally to cook evenly.
Serve hot with Schezwan sauce or tomato ketchup.

Tips:
1) Do not use potatoes which become gooey after mashing. Russet potatoes work well.
2) Adjust the amount of chili to your preference.
3) Use WOODEN sticks.
4) If using baby-corn, pierce thicker side of the baby-corn in paneer ball.

Mirchi Pakoda

Mirchi Bhajji in Marathi

Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 2 to 3 persons

Ingredients:
8 to 10 long green chilies. (less spicy)
3/4 cup chickpea flour
1 tbsp rice flour
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
pinch of baking soda
salt to taste
oil for deep frying

Method:
1) Wash green chilies. Make a lengthwise slit and remove the seeds (Tip). Do not remove the stem.
2) Take a small mixing bowl. Mix chickpea flour, rice flour, turmeric, and salt. Add a little less than 3/4 cup of water. Mix without lumps. Add pinch of soda and make a thick batter.
3) Heat oil over high heat. Turn heat to medium when it reaches to a smoke point. Dip the green chilies and make sure that they are well coated with the batter. Carefully drop them in hot oil. Deep fry until golden.
Serve hot.

Tips:
1) Removing seeds is completely depend on how spicy those chilies are. If chilies are too hot, then remove all the seeds. Also, you may keep a little amount of seeds if you like hot chili pakoda.
2) Do not use very thick chilies. Although, they are less spicy, they remain uncooked and crunchy after deep frying. Hence, use long, medium thick and medium spicy chilies.
3) Green chilies can be stuffed with different stuffing. I had stuffed them spicy mashed potato (usual potato subzi flavored with chili paste, ginger and garlic). Then dipped in batter and deep fried in hot oil.

Baby Corn Pakoda

Baby Corn Pakoda in Marathi

Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 2 to 3 persons

Ingredients:
15 baby Corns
3 tbsp corn flour
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp amchoor powder
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

Method:
1) Take corn flour into a small bowl. add all the spices and salt. Mix well. Add 2 to 3 tbsp water and make medium consistency paste.
2) Wash and pat dry baby corns. Heat oil into a kadai. Turn the heat to medium high.
3) Dip the 3 to 4 baby corns into corn flour paste. Coat well. Leave the baby corns in hot oil. Deep fry till golden brown.
Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Harabhara kabab

Hara Bhara Kabab in Marathi

10 to 12 medium kababs
Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:
15 to 20 spinach leaves
2 medium potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed
3/4 cup green peas, boiled
2-3 green chilies, finely chopped
2 tbsp corn flour
1/2 tsp ginger, grated
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp amchoor (dry mango powder)
salt to taste
oil for deep frying
8 to 10 Cashew-nuts

Method:
1) Blanch the spinach leaves - boil around 2 cups of water. Once water starts boiling, add spinach leaves. Stir for couple of minutes. Then drain hot water and immediately immerse spinach leaves into cold water.
2) Slightly squeeze out water from spinach. Add green peas, spinach and green chilies to a blender. Blend coarsely. Do not add water.
3) Transfer blended peas and spinach to a mixing bowl. Add ginger, mashed potatoes, coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala, amchoor and salt. Also add corn flour and mix nicely.
4) Grease your palms lightly. Divide the mixture into equal small portions and make smooth surfaced balls. Press slightly to flatten a little. Gently press a cashew-nut at one side. Deep fry over medium-high heat until pinkish.
Serve with Tomato ketchup, green chutney or tamarind chutney.

Tips:
1) Mash the potato without any lumps.
2) To make the mixture dry, squeeze the spinach well. Also drain the peas properly before adding to the blender. The kababs wont form well if the mixture is wet and ultimately more corn flour will require. This will ruin the taste.
3) To make kababs very green, add a small pinch of edible green color.

Paneer Finger Pakora

Paneer Pakoda in Marathi

Time: 15 to 20 minutes
Yield: 10 to 12 pieces

Ingredients:
200 Gram paneer, cut into finger sized slices
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tbsp Maida
Salt to taste
1 tsp Red chili powder
Marination
2 tsp green chili sauce
2 tsp soy sauce
Oil for deep frying

Method:
1) Mix chili sauce and soy sauce into a medium bowl. Marinate paneer slices with this mixture for 5 minutes
2) Mix corn flour, maida, salt and red chili powder into a bowl. Dust marinated paneer with this mixture and deep fry in hot oil until golden brown.
Serve with Chili sauce as an appetizer.

Plantain Cutlets

Plantain cutlets in Marathi

Time: Prep Time- 20 minutes (Excludes soaking time for sago) | Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 12 to 14 medium cutlets

Ingredients:
2 green plantain/raw bananas
1 medium potato boiled and mashed
1/4 cup sago
2 tbsp flour used for fasting
3 Tbsp peanuts roasted and crushed
Crush together - 3 green chilies + ½ tsp cumin seeds +¼ cup coriander leaves chopped finely
1 tbsp lemon juice
Salt to taste
Ghee or Peanuts Oil for deep frying

Method:
1) Wash sago pearls with water. Drain all the water and keep it covered for 4 hours.
2) Once sago is nice and plump, peel and grate the plantain. Mix them both. Now add mashed potato, fasting flour, peanuts powder, chili mixture, lemon juice and salt to taste. Make a stiff dough. Divide the dough into equal sized dumplings and shape them according to your preference.
3) Heat oil or ghee for deep frying. Deep fry cutlets over medium heat till color turns to golden brown.
Serve hot with Sweet lemon pickle or green chutney.

Kadboli - Maharashtrian Faral Recipe

Kadboli in Marathi

Yield: 35 to 40 pieces
Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:
1 + 1/4 cup Kadboli Flour - Click here for the recipe
1 + 1/4 cup Water
1 tsp Sesame seeds
1 tsp Ajwain (Carom Seeds)
1 + 1/2 tsp red chili powder or to taste
1/4 tsp Hing (Asafoetida)
1 tsp salt or to taste
1 tsp Oil
Oil for deep frying

Method:
1) Heat the water into a medium sized pan. Add sesame seeds, ajwain, red chili powder, hing, salt and 1 tsp oil. Mix well.
2) Once water starts boiling, turn off the heat. Add Kadboli flour and mix. Cover the pan and let the steam infuse in the dough. Keep it covered for 5 to 8 minutes.
3) Then sprinkle very little warm water and knead the dough.
4) Divide the dough into 1 inch balls. Roll each one into a short log (tip 1) (1 cm thickness). Start from one end and shape it like a coil. stick the second end to the kadboli, so that it wont open when frying.

Tips:
1) Roll the the dough in a thick string shape. Then slowly give shape to the "kadboli" string by hand. This can be done effectively by rolling action as if you are tying a string around a stick. Do not lift kadboli from the kitchen platform during this, rather use platform for support.
2) Fry kadboli over medium-high flame.You will notice lots of bubbles when you add the kadboli into hot oil, then gradually it will stop and kadboli will start to go downward in the oil. This is a clue to doneness.

Punjabi Samosa

Punjabi samosa in Marathi

Time: Preparation (Stuffing, Dough) - 25 minutes | Samosa - 20 minutes
Yield: 15 to 16 medium Samosas

Serve Samosas with Dates and Tamarind Chutney - Click here for the recipe

Click here for Delicious Samosa Chaat Recipe

Ingredients:
4 medium potatoes
1 cup green peas (Frozen)
For tempering: 1 tbsp oil, 1/4 tsp cumin seeds, 2 pinches of asafoetida, 1/2 tsp red chili powder
8 to 10 green chilies
1/2 inch Ginger piece
1/2 tsp Saunf seeds (fennel seeds)
7 to 8 black pepper corn, crushed
1 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp Dry mango powder
1/2 tsp cumin and coriander powder
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp sugar
Oil for deep frying
For cover:
2 cups Maida (All purpose flour)
1/2 to 1 tsp Carom seeds
4 to 5 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste
water to knead the dough

Method:
Potato stuffing:
1) Boil the potatoes. Peel and chop them finely.
2) Grind green chilies and make fine paste. Mince the ginger. or you can use ginger paste.
3) Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan over medium heat. Add cumin seeds, asafoetida, red chili powder and saunf seeds. saute for about 10 seconds. Then add green chili paste and minced ginger. Saute for few seconds.
4) Add green peas. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Then add chopped potatoes and mix nicely. Use masher to mash the potatoes. However Do not mash completely. Add salt, garam masala, dry mango powder, cumin-coriander powder, sugar and crushed black pepper. Mix nicely. Cover and cook over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Let the stuffing cool down completely.
For cover:
1) In a mixing bowl, add flour and oil. Mix nicely. Mixture will become crumbly. Add carom seeds and salt. Mix well. Add water and knead to a medium consistency dough. Cover for 20 minutes.
2) After 20 minutes, divide the dough into 8 to 10 equal balls.
Samosa
1) Roll each ball into a thin circle. Cut the circle into half. Brush the edges with water. Join the two edges, and seal. It will make a cone. Fill this cone with a spoonful of potato stuffing. Press the open edge and seal nicely. Make all the samosas.
2) Heat oil for deep frying. Deep fry over medium heat until samosas turn golden in color.
Serve the samosas with Green chutney or Tamarind Chutney.

Palak Pakoda

Spinach Pakoda in Marathi

Serves: 10 to 12 Pakodas (For 2 persons)
Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
2 cup roughly chopped spinach leaves
1/4 cup onion, julienne
6 to 7 tbsp Besan (chickpea flour)
1 tbsp Rice flour
1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
5 to 7 curry leaves, finely chopped
1 tsp Sesame seeds (optional)
1 tsp Kasoori Methi
1/2 tbsp Red chili powder or to taste
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
Pinch of baking soda
Salt to taste
2 to 3 tbsp of water
Oil for deep frying

Method:
1) In a mixing bowl add spinach, onion and salt. Mix well and leave for 10 to 15 minutes. This will make onion little mushy and slightly watery.
2) Then Sprinkle besan and rice flour over it. Heat 1 tsp oil till it reaches to its smoking point and pour it over the flour. Wait for 2 minutes and toss gently.
3) Now add other ingredients (ginger garlic paste, kasoori methi, sesame seeds, red chili powder, turmeric powder, baking soda, and little more salt if needed). Mix nicely and add very little water. Make a very thick mixture (dough like consistency).
4) Heat oil for deep frying and put it over medium flame. Drop little pakodas with the help of spoon or just by hand. Deep fry until golden brown and crispy.
Place on the paper towel to remove excess oil.
Serve hot with Tomato ketchup, green chutney or dry garlic chutney.

Tips:
1) You can add fresh methi leaves (Fenugreek) along with spinach.
2) Adding 1 tsp hot oil over dry flour makes the pakodas crispy.
3) Do not fry over high heat or low heat. Frying over high heat makes the pakoda brown quickly but inside it will remain uncooked. Frying over low heat will make the pakodas very oily. Try to maintain the temperature by changing from medium to medium-high.
4) Baking soda makes the pakodas light. However do not add more than a pinch for the above quantity.
5) If you add water more than few spoons, pakodas wont come out crispy.