Palak Patal Bhaji/ पालकाची पातळ भाजी

Paatal Bhaji aka Dal Bhaji is a star dish of Maharashtrian cooking. It is a quintessential part of Maharashtrian thali. We make it on every festival or on every religious occasion. We make it very either Spinach, Meethi (Fenugreek) or even with Colocasia leave (Arvi Patte). I have previously shared my mom’s version of Patal Bhaji made using colocasia (Arvi).

Now sharing my mother in law’s version of Patal Bhaji. She usually makes it with Spinach and pep up with Garlic Tadka. Also, she replaces chana dal with Matar (peas) at times. But I love the crunch of peanut, chana dal in it.

It is again a healthy, nutritious and delicious Bhaji. You can include it in your weekly menu. Especially those who are not fond of spinach can have this Bhaji.

Enjoy it with Phulka/Bhakri or hot steam rice.

All you need is 

Servings: 2

INGREDIENTS:-

1 cup Spinach, chopped

2 tablespoon Chana Dal (split Bengal gram)

2 tablespoon Peanuts

Few pieces of coconut

2 tablespoon or ¼ cup Besan

1 tablespoon Tamarind paste ( imli ki paste)

2 tablespoon Jaggery

1 ½ tsp salt or to taste

FOR TEMPERING:-

3 tablespoon Oil

1 teaspoon Mustard Seeds

¼ teaspoon Asafetida (heeng) or little more

3-4 garlic cloves, crushed

½ teaspoon turmeric

2-3 dry red chillies

1 teaspoon red chilli powder

METHOD:-

1.  Soak chana dal, peanuts and coconut for 2 hours.

2.  In a broad pan boil 1 litre water, add soaked ingredients, chopped Spinach leaves and boil it for 10 minutes or till the Dal is cooked.

3.  Meanwhile in a bowl add Besan, Tamarind Puree and make a batter using little water.

4.  Add this batter to Dal Palak and stir in continuously.

5.  Add salt, mix it and again cook for 4-5 minutes.

6.  FOR TEMPERING:- heat oil in a pan

7.  Add mustard seeds, asafetida, turmeric, garlic and red chilli powder.

8.  Now pour this tempering (tadka) over the cooked Bhaji, mix it well cook for another 2-3 minutes on high flame.

9.  Enjoy it with nice hot steam rice with a generous amount of ghee over it.

look at the picture to know how to serve a thali.

 

Hey Friends! If you like my blogs kindly post your comment below the post and do share your response. Looking forward to some new innovative recipes. Thanks for reading. HAPPY COOKING! :)

Mango Tomato Chilli Pickle

click - for the video recipe

India is a pickle nation. We have varities of pickles. We make it in almost every season. I can’t imagine my thali without pickle. It is a must to have with Dal-Chawal or with Paratha’s. This recipe I learnt from a friend. For this, we need already prepared mango pickle. (So we are making a pickle from a pickle.) And another thing is I am using Sesame oil which gives a nice nutty flavor to it. It is flavorful, aromatic, spicy, tangy and lip-smacking pickle. My mouth is already watering imagining about it. Folks! Do not miss this recipe, try it today! All you need is-

INGREDIENTS-

½ cup Mango Pickle

1 Tomato, diced

4-5 garlic cloves

3-4 dry Red Chilli

2 Tbsp Oil

1 Tsp Mustard seeds

½ Tsp Asafetida

1 Tsp Onion seeds (Kalonji)

7-8 curry leaves

1 Tsp Kashmiri Red Chili powder

¼ Tsp Salt

For Tempering-

¼ Tsp Oil

1 Tsp Mustard seeds

1 Tsp Fenugreek Seeds (Meethi Dana)

1 Tsp Onion Seeds

¼ Tsp Turmeric

METHOD:

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, onion seeds, dry red chilli, garlic and curry leaves. Fry it for a minute on a medium flame. Add asafetida. (For pickles we need a generous amount of Heeng)

Now add in the diced tomato. Mix it well and sauté it. Now cover it with lid and cook the tomatoes. Make sure the flame is low. It takes around 5 minutes for tomatoes to get completely cooked. 

 

Once it is done remove it from the flame and cool it. 

In a blender add the above tomato mix, mango pickle, Kashmiri red chilli powder (It gives a nice colour to the pickle) and salt. Adjust the quantity of salt as mango pickle already has salt in it. Now blend everything into a smooth paste.  Remove this blended pickle into a bowl.

Now time to turn up the spice quotient by tempering the pickle-

Heat oil in a tadka pan, add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and onion seeds. Allow it to splutter. Add asafetida and turmeric. Here you can also add curry leaves and red chilli powder if you wish. Now pour the tempering over the pickle. 

Give it a nice mix and allow it cool. 

Now store the prepared pickle into a sterilized jar (Give some asafetida smoke to the jar). Make sure the jar is dry. There should be no moisture content in it. Otherwise the pickle will get spoiled. And there is a saying in hindi-"Jiska Achar Bigda Uska Saal Bigda".

Remember because it contains tomato, the shelf life of this is 1 month. It can stay more if refrigerated. Though I bet you will finish it soon because it is delicious, lip-smacking, spicy, tangy, tasty and yummy.

Note- Use sesame oil or ground nut oil, it gives a fantastic aroma to the pickle.  Also, you can use fresh red chili instead of dry red chili.

Hey Friends! If you like my blogs kindly post your comment below the post and do share your response. Looking forward to some new innovative recipes. Thanks for reading. HAPPY COOKING! :)

Pudina(Mint) and Spring Onion Chutney

Ingredients:-

1 cup Pudina (Mint)

1 green onion

½ cup greens of spring onion, chopped

1 tsp cumin

½ tsp Black salt

¼ tsp Coriander powder

¼ tsp red chili powder

Pinch of asafetida

2 green chilli

¼ cup peanuts

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp lemon juice

Method:-

1.     Wash Pudina and spring onions.

2.     In a blender add all the ingredients.

3.     Blend it into a smooth paste. Add little water as required.

4.     Now take it out in a jar. And store it in refrigerator for a week.

5.     Serve it with Snacks, in thali or with paratha’s or puri.

Hey Friends! If you like my blogs kindly post your comment below the post and do share your response. Looking forward for some new innovative recipes. Thanks for reading. HAPPY COOKING ! :)

Dry Garlic Chutney / Vada Pav Chutney

A perfect combination of pungent garlic and nutty dry coconut – peanuts , filled with loads of red chili powder. This is one of the excellent chutney to have along with vada pav or also you can eat it daily.

A simple and quick preparation yet so flavorful. You can store it for 2-3 months in an air tight container. Also you can add it in regular Sabji’s or gravies. You definitely need to try this.

To prepare we need very few ingredients-

INGREDIENTS:-

1 tablespoon Oil

1 tablespoon Cumin

½ cup Garlic

1 ½ dry grated coconut

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup raw peanuts

1 ½ tablespoon Red chili powder (you can add little more)

2 dried whole red chili

METHOD:-

1. Heat oil in a pan or skillet, add peanuts and whole red chili.

2. Sautee’ it till peanuts become pink in color. (Keep it on low flame)

3. Now add Garlic (you can even crush the garlic and then add it), cumin and roast it on  low flame.

To remove the moisture from garlic.

4. Add grated coconut and again sautee’ till it becomes little pink in color. Say about for 2-3 minutes.

5. Once done with roasting the ingredients, remove it from flame, allow it to cool and transfer it in a blender.

6. Add salt and chili powder and grind it into fine powder.

7. Remove this chuntey on a try and allow it to dry for an hour.

8. Now you can store it in an air tight container.

* TIP- for more better taste you can add about 2 tablespoons sesame to this.    

                                                                                                                                                                                     For video tutorial click the link given below                                                                                 

Hey Friends! If you like my blogs kindly post your comment below the post and do share your response. Looking forward for some new innovative recipes. Thanks for reading. HAPPY COOKING ! :)