Dhokla

Dhokla in Marathi

Time: 30 minutes (excluding fermentation time)
Makes: 15 to 17 medium pieces

Ingredients:
1 cup Besan (Chickpea Flour)
3 tbsp Rava
1/2 cup yogurt, beaten
1/2 cup water (you may need a 1/4 cup more)
1/2 tsp grated ginger, 1/2 tsp green chili paste, a small pinch of citric acid (tip 2)
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp Baking soda
Sugar syrup with tempering:
2 tsp Oil, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1/8 tsp Hing, 2 tbsp sugar, 1/4 cup water, juice of 1 lemon

Method:
1) Take a deep, medium bowl. Add yogurt and water into it. Mix together. Add besan and rava. Blend well without any lumps. Make a semi-thick batter (consistency should be a little thicker than pakoda batter)
2) Cover this bowl and place it at a warm place. Let the batter ferment for atleast 10 to 12 hours (It may take a few more hours if the weather is cold. my batter took 20 hours to ferment)
3) Once batter is fermented, add grated ginger, salt, chili paste and a pinch of citric acid. Mix well.
4) Heat water into the dhokla steamer. Water level should be around 2 inches from the bottom. Grease the dhokla plates with some oil (grease the edges too).
5) Once water starts boiling, add baking soda into dhokla batter and whisk clockwise. Batter will become frothy. Pour the batter into greased dhokla plates. Put them into dhokla steamer. Cover and steam on high heat for 10 to 12 minutes.
6) Then turn off the heat and let it stand for 7 to 8 minutes. Open the cooker and wait till dhokla cools down a bit. Run a knife around the edges and remove dhokla into a plate.
7) Take a tadka pan. heat 2 tsp oil. add hing, turmeric powder and mustard seeds. Once mustard seeds are crackled, transfer this tadka into a small glass bowl. Add 1/4 cup water, sugar and juice of 1 lemon. Add little salt. Mix well. You may add little more sugar if required.
8) When dhokla is cooled down, drizzle the syrup with a spoon. Let the syrup soak into dhokla for few minutes.
Dhokla can be served warm or cooled. Garnish it with fresh scraped coconut and cilantro.
Serve it with green chutney.

Tips:
1) You can add a pinch of yellow food color into the batter to give a readymade, store-bought kind of look to dhokla :). However, do not add turmeric into the batter, as when turmeric mixes with baking soda, the color turns to red. Ultimately dhokla will become red.
2) Citric acid gives a slightly sour taste to the dhokla. My batter wasn't fermented enough and hence the sourness due to fermentation was missing. Therefore, if the batter is well fermented, no need to use citric acid.

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.

Jowar Flour bhakri

Jwarichi Bhakri in Marathi

Time: 25 minutes
Serves: 4 to 5 medium bhakari

Ingredients:
2 cups Jowar flour
approx 2 cups hot water
1 tbsp ghee or Butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 to 3/4 cup dry jowar flour for dusting

Serve this healthy yet delicious Bhakari with - Bhogi Bhaji (Mixed Vegetable)

Method:
1) Boil 2 cups of water into a small pan. Add 1 tbsp ghee. Add 2 cups jowar flour into a big thali or a big mixing bowl. Sprinkle salt. Add the hot water little by little into jowar flour and mix carefully. Knead and make a soft, pliable dough.
2) Now divide the dough into 4 to 5 equal portions.
3) Heat a tawa over high heat for a minute and turn down the flame to medium high. Make a smooth ball of a dough portion, dip it into dry jowar flour and dust nicely. Gently roll with a rolling pin to a semi thick disc. Sprinkle little dry flour if required.
4) Put the bhakari over hot tawa. Apply some water to the surface carefully with hand or wet cotton cloth. The applied water will evaporate. At this time check the doneness of opposite side. Turn the bhakari and cook the other side. Dark brown spots should appear on both the sides. (Important tip 2)
Put a dollop of homemade butter on hot bhakari and serve with zunka, pithla or eggplant-potato curry.

Tips:
1) Instead of rolling bhakari can be made by patting it clockwise.
2) I have electric stove coil at home, So its not possible to roast the bhakari on direct flame. However, if you have gas stove top (with flame), roast one side on tawa. Flip the side roast for few second on tawa and now put it on direct flame. flip and turn the bhakari with a tong. It will puff up nicely on direct flame.
3) To make it on the day of Bhogi. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp of sesame seeds on bhakari dough ball and roll. Sesame seeds will stick to bhakari and will get roasted with it.

Microwave Khandvi Surali Vadi

Microwave surali vadi in Marathi

Yield: 12 to 15 pieces
Time: Preparation time: 15 to 20 minutes | Microwave : 5 to 7 minutes

Ingredients:
1 cup Besan (chickpea flour)
1 cup Sour Buttermilk (Thick)
1 and 1/2 cup water
1 tsp green chili paste
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 tsp Asafoetida Powder
For Tempering : 2 tbsp Oil, 1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds, 2 Pinches of Asafoetida powder
½ cup Fresh grated Coconut
1 tsp Red Chili Powder, to sprinkle over Surali Vadi
½ cup finely chopped Cilantro
Salt to taste
Kalatha (Indian Pancake turner made of steel) to spread the mixture
Thick Plastic Sheet greased slightly with oil

Method:
1) Whisk together Chickpea flour, Buttermilk and water. Remove all the lumps. Add chili paste to taste, Turmeric Powder, ½ tsp Asafoetida Powder and salt to taste. Mix well and make a smooth batter.
2) Before cooking the mixture, keep ready the plastic shee on a flat surface and also Kaltha to spread the batter.
3) Pour this batter into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high power for 50 seconds. Take the bowl out and whisk nicely to remove the lumps. Make it smooth. Microwave for 30 seconds, remove the bowl out and beat again. Do it until mixture gets cooked. Consistency should be medium. whisk and remove lumps if any.
4) Immediately spread the mixture over plastic sheet and make a even thin layer. Let this layer cool down a bit.
5) Heat oil into a small pan (omlete pan). Add mustard seeds, asafoetida. Spread this tadka over surali wadi layer with the help of spoon.
6) Sprinkle coconut and cilantro evenly. Also sprinkle red chili powder to taste. Then Cut it into 5 inch big stripes. Then gently roll it and then divide into equal 3 to 4 pieces.
7) Garnish with cilantro and coconut while serving

Surali Vadi - Stove top Method

Tips:
1) Instead of plastic sheet, you can use backside of stainless steel thali (Plates) to make thin layer of mixture. But you will need 5-6 thalis for the whole batter, which would be little difficult to manage.
2) If you don’t want tadka inside the roll, don’t spread tadka on the layer, just spread takda with spoon over the roll after making roll.
3) It would be difficult to make rolls if we spread coconut and cilantro on the layer. In that case, spread only tadka on the layer, make rolls, and garnish them with coconut and cilantro.

Patra Indian snack Aluvadi

Patra recipe in Marathi

Time:- Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 15 Pieces

Ingredients:
Taro Leaves 4 to 6
3/4 cup Chickpea flour
1 tbsp Rice flour
1/4 cup Tamarind juice (medium consistency)
2 tbsp grated jaggery
1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 2 tsp red chili powder, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp cumin powder, salt to taste
Oil for deep frying or shallow frying

Method:
If you have 4 leaves: use 2 leaves for each roll
If you have 6 leaves: use 3 leaves for each roll

1) In a medium bowl mix chickpea flour, rice flour, tamarind pulp, jaggery, turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander-cumin powder, salt to taste. Mix nicely. Add little water and make a thick sticky paste. This paste should not be runny or doughy in consistency. It should be in the middle. Taste the paste and add any ingredient, if needed.
2) Wash and pat dry taro leaves. Cut the excessive stems.
3) Take the biggest leaf first. Put the leaf on a flat clean surface, dark green side down. Roll the leaf with a rolling pin to flatten the veins. Repeat same with the remaining leaves.
4) Now take the biggest leaf first, dark green side down. Apply the paste on it. Put the second leaf on it (dark green side down). Apply the paste and Place another leaf on it. Apply the paste on it.
5) Then fold the broad side over the leaf as shown in the picture and spread some paste on the folded sides. Then fold the other two adjacent sides. Apply the paste.
6) Then start making roll from the folded side to narrow side. Make a tight roll and apply little batter on the blank areas (no need to be very precise).
Repeat the same process to make another roll.
7) Steam cook these rolls and let them cool down completely.
8) Make 1 and 1/2 cm thick slices. Shallow fry or deep fry them. Garnish with Coconut, toasted sesame seeds and fresh cilantro. Serve hot.



Tips:
1) If you don't want to deep fry or shallow fry, you can eat steamed and sliced patra. Drizzle a teaspoon oil tempering to give nice flavor.(heat 1 tsp oil, add mustard seeds and let them crackle then add pinch of asafoetida)
2) Shallow fried patra becomes more crispy than deep fried.
3) One important thing - Use the biggest patra leaf first. Then the medium and then smaller should be on the top. If you use small leaf first, you wont be able to make a proper roll.
4) Do not use more than 3 leaves to make a roll. It will become too big and difficult to handle.
5) Roll should be nice and tight. It will keep the patra round and whole after slicing and shallow / deep frying.

Gulab Jamun

Gulab Jamun In Marathi

Approx 15 to 18 medium Gulabjamun
Time: approx 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients:
250 gram Khoya (Use special Gulabjamun Khoya)
Sugar Syrup::::
1 and 1/2 cup sugar
1 and 1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
Other ingredients::::
Oil of Ghee to deep fry Gulabjamun
1 tbsp Maida (All purpose flour)
Milk as needed (You will need very little, may be few tsps)
Pinch of Baking Soda

Method:
1) Grate the khoya. Sprinkle all purpose flour and baking soda over grated khoya. Mix. Drizzle little milk and knead to medium consistency dough. Use very little ghee if needed. Cover the dough with a damp clean cloth.
2) Make one thread consistency sugar syrup. To make it, mix sugar and water in a deep medium pan. Boil and make one thread consistency syrup. While sugar syrup is getting ready, divide the dough into equal small balls (1 and 1/2 cm to 2 cm). Give them a smooth round shape. There should not be any cracks on the surface.
3) Heat the oil over high heat and them turn the heat to medium low. Oil temperature is a very important while frying the gulabjamun balls. To check the temperature, drop one ball in the heated oil. If it floats immediately on the oil surface and start browning, the oil is hot. So wait for couple of minutes to get the right oil temperature.
If the dough ball sits at the bottom of kadai for few seconds and rises slowly, this is the right temperature. Then, you can drop multiple jamun balls into the oil. Turn and roll them with slotted spoon to get same color at all sides. Fry them into batches. Cook them until they become reddish brown in color. Remove the first batch of fried jamun out of the oil and let them rest for couple of minutes. Then put them into hot sugar syrup. Repeat the same process for other jamun balls. One thing to remember that sugar syrup should not be boiling hot or warm. It should be in the middle.
Let the jamun soak into the sugar syrup for atleast 5 to 6 hours. For better results, soak them overnight.

Tips:
1) Some people like a nice aroma of rose to the Jamun. For that, add 1 or 2 drops of rose essence in the sugar syrup.
2) You can give little twist to the traditional recipe. While make balls out of dough, place a small piece of dry fruit (cashew, pistachio), small piece of rock sugar or a seed of cardamom in the center of the ball. Then fry them normally.
3) You can replace all purpose flour with Araroot powder or corn flour.
4) Oil temperature is very important while frying the Gulabjamun. If the oil is too hot, jamun will get reddish color immediately. however inside, they will remain uncooked. Therefore adjust the oil temperature first.
5) Sugar syrup should be one thread consistency. Thick sugar syrup is hard to absorb into the gulabjamun.

Gulpapdi Laddu

Gulpapdi Laddu in Marathi

Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 5 to 8 medium laddu

Ingredients:
1 cup Wheat flour
1/2 to 3/4 cup pure Ghee
1/2 to 3/4 cup grated Jaggery
1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder

Method:
1) Heat ghee into a pan. Add wheat flour and roast over medium heat until you sense nice aroma. It will take about 6 to 7 minutes. Stir continuously.
2) Once wheat flour is roasted nicely, lower the heat, add jaggery and cardamom powder. Mix nicely until jaggery mingles nicely.
3) Make laddus when mixture is hot.

Note:
1) To make these laddus more healthy, Add 1 tbsp dry-dates powder, 1 tbsp almond powder, 1 tbsp roasted dry coconut (grated) along with jaggery. If you are going to add all these ingredients, increase the amount of ghee by a little.