.....From My Palate

Gujarat

Aate Aur Til Ki Burfi

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A very Happy New Year to all!
Wishing you all, the happiness and blessings in 2016.
New year is there and we are almost in the last week of January. I know, time really flies! I still remember going to my Nani’s home with my mother during my vacations. I used to love all the fun and attention I get there but I was more excited to get a box of my favorite sweet freshly made by my Nani. Simple, really delicious, with a hue of sexy brown color and garnished with dried coconut flakes, my favorite Aate Ki Burfi. It has become so much part of me that my visit to my nani’s home is incomplete without it. I don”t want to publish my age around here but still after so many years its taste and aroma is still fresh in my palate and soul.
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While browsing around I saw a recipe on a YouTube channel of my favorite blogger Nishamadhulika, Aata til Burfi. It refreshed the memory of my childhood and I tried the recipe with little tweaks here and there suited to our taste and voila! Perfect Sweet for my palate!
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Aate Aur Til Ki Burfi
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup safed Til (Sesame Seeds)
  • 1 cup Aata (Whole Wheat Flour)
  • 1/2 cup Khoya, grated and roasted
  • 3 tbsp. Ghee
  • 1 1/2 cups Sugar
  • 3/4 cup Water
  • 1/2 tsp. Cardamom Powder
  • Pinch of Saffron
  • Sliced Pistachios for garnishing
Instructions
  1. Roast sesame seeds until little puffy and slight golden in color.
  2. Grind it coarsely and keep it aside,
  3. Roast aata with ghee on low flame until it becomes light brown in color.
  4. It releases good aroma when its done.
  5. Mix sugar and water and make sugar syrup with one thread consistency.
  6. Now add roasted flour, til, khoya, cardamom powder and saffron.
  7. Mix it well and cook until it thick enough to set.
  8. Spread the mixture in a greased plate and garnished with sliced pistachios.
  9. Cut it in small pieces and serve.

 

Puran Poli

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Maharashtrian cuisine!! What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you read it? May be, spicy Vada Paav, steaming hot Paav Bhaji, Misal Paav, Ragda Patties or chatpati Bhel Puri. But the real food of this filmy state is much more than these easily available street food. Today we are talking about the most popular Puran Poli. Puran Poli is a sweet, soft and flaky flat bread that melts in the mouth with burst of sweet nutty flavors and makes every occasion sweet and auspicious with its presence.

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Puran Poli
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • For Puran-
  • 1 cup Chana Dal
  • 1 cup Jaggery (Gudh)
  • Pinch of Nutmeg powder
  • 1/4 tsp Cardamom powder
  • Few strands of Saffron
  • 1 cup Water
  • For Dough-
  • 1 cup Whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup All Purpose Flour (Maida)
  • 1 tbsp Oil
  • Salt to taste
  • (I used only whole wheat flour but adding all purpose flour makes it softer and tastier)
Instructions
Puran
  1. Wash and soak chana dal for overnite.
  2. Boil chana dal with one cup of water and saffron for 3-4 whistles.
  3. Drain and coarsely grind it.
  4. Mix chana dal, jaggery, nutmeg and cardamom powder.
  5. Cook the mixture in a nonstick pan until it thickens (spatula can stand upright in the mixture just to check it.)
  6. Keep it aside and make small balls of the mixture.
Puran Poli Dough
  1. Take maida, whole wheat flour, salt and oil. Mix it well.
  2. Add water as needed and knead it in to a soft sticky dough.
  3. Cover and leave it to rest for an hour.
Puran Poli
  1. Make a soft dough with tsp of oil.
  2. Take small ball from dough and roll like a puri.
  3. Stuff puran in to rolled puri and seal the edges nicely.
  4. Roll it evenly like stuffed paratha.
  5. Heat non stick tawa and cook puranpoli from both the sides with little ghee or oil till it gets nice golden color.
  6. Serve hot with a dollop of ghee over it.

Kutchi Dabeli

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Kutch is the largest district of India in Gujarat famous for its magical wet and dry lands. Apart from wetlands and white desert Kutch is famous for its wonderful culinary delights. One of the jewel from its treasure box is Dabeli. Dabeli is a famous street food in Gujarat. Its original roots are from Mandvi Kutch. Dabeli is a spicy potatoes mixture cooked with dabeli masala served sandwiched in paavs (buns) with chutneys and accompaniments. Dabeli is a delectable answer from India to all the burger served in west.

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Dabeli is also known as double roti. This dish is deliciously spicy, easy to prepare and undoubtedly a star dish to impress people. With all the assorted accompaniments served with it gives a sweet, tangy, spicy, crunchy taste that will lead to overeating and no way to stop its craving. Just a word of caution to my dear friends. 🙂 🙂

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Kutchi Dabeli
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • Round Buns (Pavs)
  • 3 tbsp. Dabeli Masala
  • 5 Potatoes boiled, peeled and mashed
  • 3 tbsp. Oil
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 tsp. Lemon Juice
  • Butter
  • 1 cup Tamarind Chutney
  • 1/2 cup Masala Moongphalli (Spicy Peanuts)
  • 2 tbsp. Coconut, scraped
  • 1/4 cup Pomegranate Pearls
  • 1/4 cup Black Grapes, chopped
  • 1/4 cup Nylon Sev
  • 2 tbsp. Fresh Coriander Leaves, chopped
  • 1 Onion, finely chopped
  • Garlic Chilli Chutney
  • 6-7 Garlic Cloves
  • 1 tsp. Lal Mirch Powder
  • Salt to taste
  • 3 tbsp. Water
  • Lemon juice to taste
Instructions
  1. Take dabeli masala in a bowl, add 2 tbsp. of tamarind chutney and little water.
  2. Mix it well and keep aside.
  3. Heat oil in a pan, add dabeli masala mixture in it.
  4. Cook for 2 minutes, now add potatoes, salt and a little water.
  5. Mix it well, add lemon juice and cook until moisture is absorbed.
  6. Take it out in a platter. Sprinkle coconut all over.
Garlic Chilli Chutney
  1. In a grinder add all the ingredients
  2. Grind it in to a smooth paste.
  3. Add little water if needed while grinding.
Assembling Dabeli
  1. Slit buns in to two.
  2. Apply garlic chutney on one side of bun and tamarind chutney on other bun.
  3. Now add potato mixture, peanuts, onion, grapes, coriander leaves, pomegranate and sev.
  4. Cover with the other slice of bun.
  5. Place the stuffed pavs on a hot tawa.
  6. Press slightly and toast on both sides, with a little butter, till done.
  7. Serve hot.

Mango Shrikhand/Amrakhand

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Summers are in full swing now and with the warm weather outside, anything cold, creamy, sweet is blissful and divine to the palate. Desserts are the sweet endings to a meal. Sweets give the food perfect landing in the stomach with the bursting flavors lingering in the mouth for some time. For the sweet tooth like me, any meal is incomplete without dessert. People think dessert making is a tedious task but the dessert I am sharing today is unbelievably simple and perfect for summers.

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Shrikhand is a yogurt based dessert popular in Maharashtra and Gujarat. It is a sweet combination of yogurt, sugar, cardamom, and saffron. Mangoes “king of fruit” gives a fresh flavor to a already delicious sweet. It is also called Amrakhand and is a important part of any meal in western part of India.

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Mango Shrikhand/Amrakhand
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • 3 cups Hung Yogurt
  • 1 cup Mango Pulp
  • 1/2 cup Sugar
  • 1 tbsp. Saffron dissolved in milk
  • 1 tsp. Cardamom Powder
  • 1 tsp. Rose Water
  • Silvered Pistachios for garnishing
Instructions
For Hung Yogurt–
  1. Take a yogurt in a cheese cloth, gather all the ends and tie a knot on the top.
  2. Hang it with the help of a twine with the kitchen tap or the banana stand.
  3. Place a bowl under the yogurt.
  4. Hang it for 5-8 hours.
  5. Scoop the yogurt from the cloth and refrigerate it until needed.
Mango Shrikhand
  1. Mix hung yogurt, mango pulp, sugar, saffron milk and cardamom.
  2. Mix it until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
  3. Chill it in refrigerator.
  4. Serve with fresh mangoes garnished with silvered pistachios.

Methi Thepla

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Theplas are spicy flat breads made with different kinds of green leafy vegetables in the western part of India. It is the intrinsic part of gujarati meal served at any time of the day. I tasted theplas ten years back in US. And from then on it is the integral part of our everyday meal, made quite often healthy and delicious for our taste buds. It’s an easy way to feed green vegetables to kids in a rolled thepla with butter or sweet pickle. Theplas has become “must-have” item for us while traveling or outing for a day. Theplas stays soft and fresh after a day or two due to the added ingredients.

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Sending this recipe to Srivalli’s – Come, Join us for Breakfast event

 

Methi Thepla
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • 2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
  • 1 1/2 cup Methi Leaves, washed & chopped
  • 2 tbsp. Besan (Gram Flour)
  • 2 tbsp. Sooji (Samolina)
  • 2 Green Chillies, crushed
  • 1 tbsp. Ginger & Garlic, grated
  • 1 tsp. Red Chilli Powder
  • 1/2 tsp. Haldi (Turmeric)
  • 1 tsp. Gur (Jaggery), grated
  • 1 tsp Ajwain (Carom Seeds)
  • 2 tbsp. Dahi (Yogurt)
  • 1 tsp Coriander powder
  • 1 tsp Cumin Seeds powder
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 tsp. Oil
  • Oil for frying
  • Extra Wheat Flour, for rolling
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and knead it in to a soft and smooth dough.
  2. Use little water at a time, if required.
  3. Keep aside covered for 10 minutes.
  4. Divide the dough into equal parts and roll out each portion into thin circles like rotis.
  5. Use extra flour for rolling if needed but not too much.
  6. Heat Tava (skillet) and cook each theplas using a little oil on both sides till it turns golden brown.
  7. Serve hot with dahi/yogurt and pickle.