Corn Chaat or a Salsa (my style!)

Yesterday I made a colorful chaat to brighten up a cloudy evening. It was very tasty. Here is how I made it.
Ingredients:
Totapuri Mango
Sweet corn kernels
Pomegranates seeds
Onion
Coriander
Capsicum
Lemon
Chaat masala
Salt
Sugar
Boil corn kernels. Add some salt while boiling. Drain.
Remove seeds from a pomegranate. This can be done is advance. I usually separate the seeds as soon as bring pomegranates home. And refrigerate the seeds. They come in very handy in salad decorations and also as a snack by itself.
Chop onions. Put it in some cold water for 5-10 mins and drain well. Onion will loose its strong taste if we thus put it in water after cutting. In a chat where you are going to add fruits, usual taste of an onion does not blend well.
Dice a mango. I used Totapuri mangoes. These mangoes have a bit of tangy sour taste in addition to usual sweet taste of mangoes. You can use any variety you get. Use slight unripe ones to get that sourness.
Chop Capsicum, as finely as you can, so it blends well.
Chop coriander.
Juice a lemon.
Now mix all the fruits and vegetables. Add lemon juice. salt, chat masala and sugar to taste. Chaat masala has salt in it, so be careful while adding salt.
Serve.

A cool Snack for a hot summer evening !

Last week, it was very hot in this part of the globe. Temperature was well above 40 degrees. And a sure way to cool off was to have lots and lots of melon. I prepared this simple snack with musk melon balls and watermelon cubes. I served it with a sprinkling of salt and freshly crushed pepper.

It went very well with Chivada that I served with diced onion, tomato and coriander.

Sun-dried Things

It's a tradition in almost all parts of India to make some sun-dried items in summer season that last for a whole year. Papads are on the top of this list.
Maharashtra has its own tradition of such items they, in general, are called "Begami che padartha".
I have decided to blog about some of these "sunny" items.
We will start with "Sabudanyachya Chikodya" or Sago Papads
They are very simple to make. Almost anyone can make them with little effort.

Ingredients:

Sago 1 Cup

Salt 1 Tea Spoon

Jeera ½ Tea Spoon

Potato 1 Medium (Optional)

Wash sago and soak it in little water overnight. Next day morning add 4 cups of water to the soaked sago and cook it till it turns transparent. Add salt and Jeera just after you finish cooking. Now spread this mixture on a plastic sheet one spoon at a time. Let is dry in sun for 3-4 days. When they are completely dry they are ready. Fry them and serve as and when desired. This will keep good for at least 1 year.

We made them in 3-4 colours.
This is how it will look after drying and before frying

And after frying in oil it will look like this

कच्च्या करवंदाचं लोणचं

कच्च्या करवंदाचं लोणचं

करवंदाला इंग्रजीत काय म्हणतात मला खरच माहित नाही. त्याच्या सारखं दिसणारं (लागणारं नव्हे) ब्लू बेरीज नावाचं एक फळ मी इंग्लंडला पाहेलं होतं. म्हणून हे पोस्ट मराठीत लिहिते.

कच्ची करवंद आद पाव

तेल २ चमचे

मोहरी १/२ चमचा

गुळ २ चमचे

मीठ चवीनुसार

लाल तिखट १ चमचा

करवंद स्वच्छ धुवून, त्याची डेखं काढून घ्यावीत. एका कढईत तेल गरम करावं, त्यात मोहरी घालून फोडणी करावी. करवंद फोडणीला टाकून एक हलकी वाफ आणावी. मग गूळ, तिखट व मीठ घालावे. गुळ विरघळला की गॅस बंद करावा. लोणचं तयार !

करवंदाचा संदर्भ आला की मला ही कविता हमखास आठवते. माझ्या आवडत्या कवितांपैकी एक असलेली इंदिरा संताची कविता.

निवडुंगाच्या शीर्ण फ़ुलांचे
झुबे लालसर ल्यावे कानी,
जरा शिरावे पदर खोवुनी
करवन्दीच्या जाळिमधुनी.
शीळ खोल ये तळरानातून
भण भण वारा चढणीवरचा,
गालापाशी झिळमिळ लाडिक,
स्वाद जिभेवर आंबट कच्चा.
नव्हती जाणिव आणि कुणाची,
नव्हते स्वप्नही कुणी असावे,
डोंगर चढणीवरी एकटे
किती फिरावे,उभे रहावे.
पुन्हा कधी न का मिळायचे ते,
ते माझेपण, आपले आपण,
झुरते तनमन त्याच्यासाठि
उरते पदरी तिच आठवण,
निवडुंगाच्या शीर्ण फ़ुलांची,
टपोर हिरव्या करवंदाची…

Rasawanti

In Pune shops selling sugarcane juice are called Rasawanti Griha.
Summer is here in the city. And on a hot summer day one is tempted to visit a Rasawanti Griha. I visited one such Rasawanti Griha recently. Here are snapshots for you….

Every city has some hidden jewels. One has to live in the city to know places like this. This Rasawanti Griha is located in the Agricultural College. Though centrally located is a quiet place, far from hustle and bustle of the city.

The place is managed by two able ladies.

They were more than happy to pose for a photo.

Freshly squeezed juice is served here with crushed ice.

Enjoy :)