Dudhichi goad bhaji (Sweet bottle gourd fudge)

Ingredients (4 servings):

1. Peeled and chopped/grated bottle gourd: 3 cups

2. Ghee: 2 tbspn

3. Sugar or jaggery: 5 tbspn (add more if required)

4. Cloves: 3-4

5. Salt: pinch

6. Mawa (condensed milk): 200 gm

7. Crushed cardamom from 3-4 pods or 1/2 tspn

8. Nutmeg: pinch

Method:

1. Heat the ghee in a wok

2. Add cloves and switch off heat.

3. Add bottle gourd, switch on heat, cover with a heavy lid and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.

4. Add the condensed milk, sugar/jaggery, cardomom and nutmeg and mix well. Rest for 10 minutes after switching off heat. Serve warm or chilled as you prefer.

This can be eaten by itself or along with phulka. 

Vegan Cauliflower Bolognese

Huge cauliflowers sitting in all the vegetable shops here. Got one such colossal cauliflower delivered home and was wondering what to do with it when I happened to see this recipe on https://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com.

Note: Bolognese is pronounced bolo-nees and not bolo-ganesh

I didn't have all the ingredients mentioned on the site above, so I changed a few bits and the result was delicious too. Here's what I added:

1. One cauliflower finely chopped or coarsely ground in the food-processor (It was huge, so I used half)
2. Basil leaves 6-7 (Growing in my balcony)
3. Dried Italian herbs
4. Tomatoes crushed, without seeds (5-6 big)
5. Pink masoor dal 1 cup
6. Red chilli powder 1/2 tspn (add more for a spicier sauce)
7. Grape wine vinegar 1 tspn
8. Salt 1 tspn
9. Pepper 1/2 tspn
10. Ghee 1 tbspn (Til/groundnut oil for vegan recipe)
11. Cooked pasta 3 cups
12. Paneer cubes (omit for vegan recipe)

What I did not add: Onion and garlic (The original recipe called for 1 onion and 3 cloves of garlic, but we were cooking without these and the result was great too, although I am certain that these would add even more flavours.)

Method:
Heat ghee/oil in a big pot. If adding onion and garlic, add at this point and saute for a minute. Add the coarsely ground cauliflower and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add a few chopped basil leaves (reserve some for garnish), crushed tomatoes, lentils, vinegar and chilli powder. Cover with heavy lid and cook for 10 minutes. Add salt, pepper and dried Italian herbs (thyme, oregano, etc). Add the cooked pasta and cook for 5 minutes to let the pasta absorb the juices. Garnish with fresh basil leaves.

Dig in!

We ate the Bolognese with rigatoni, but it will go well with any kind of pasta. There's no strong cauliflower taste and the lentils add an amazing depth to the flavours. I will write and let you know when I try it with onion and garlic.

Idli dosa when you do not have a grinder

Don't have a grinder and hate the decibels of a typical mixer-grinder-food-processor? Here's an easy recipe to make idli or dosa batter without a grinder.

Ingredients:
1. Udad dal 1 cup
2. Rice flour 1 cup
3. Methi seeds 1 tspn or methi powder 1/2 tspn
4. Water as required
5. Salt 1/2 tspn
6. Poha 1 handful (optional)

Method:

On a weekend evening, soak the udad dal (and methi seeds) in water (let the water level sit an inch above the dal). The next morning, get up and have a cup of warm lemongrass tea. Then, eat cereal with a banana. Now that you are energised, take the soaked dal and grind it in your mixer quickly before you go deaf with the sound. Next add the rice flour and salt to the ground dal and stir to mix well. Leave it out in a warm place and go out and play badminton or tennis or just do something outdoors. The batter will rise to double its volume by tea-time. Wash the poha and let it sit for 5 minutes after draining off excess water. Grind the poha and mix it with the batter. Mix more water to make the batter thinner (for dosa).

For dosa:
Heat an iron tava and spread some oil on it. Plop some batter on it and spread with a steel bowl or a dosa spoon. Let it cook and flip it when done. Enjoy with chutney and batatyachi bhaji.

For idli:
Spoon the batter into the idli mouls and steam for 10 minutes. Enjoy idlis with chutney and sambar.