Rasaswad

It started with using up whatever I had in the pantry, but it turned out so good, I'm going to go and seek out the ingredients the next time. Here's what I did: Prep: Drain organic firm tofu on paper towels. Grind about 4-5 dried shitake mushrooms into a fine powder, and put it in a bowl, and add some water. Set aside. Grind about 4-5 garlic cloves and one inch of ginger. Cut into big chunks - 1 Onion, half a red pepper, slice a carrot and a zucchini. Cut about 10-15 mushrooms into quarters. Dice the spring onion. All the veggies and Tofu were organic, which did help, I think. Open a can on straw mushroom and a small one of sliced bamboo shoots. In a morter and pestle, crush a few sichuan peppers. Open a jar of Lee Kum Kee brand Guizhou black bean chilli sauce (which I think came from HMart). In a wok, heat some oil, add the tofu and let it brown from a few different sides. Take it out an drain on a paper towel.Add a bit more oil, add crushed ginger-garlic, spring onion, o...

This is a basic paneer filling that I use in many different ways - for wraps, as a toaster sandwich filling, and even a dosa filling. It's flexible, in that you can use a variety of veggies on hand. Heat oil, add jeera, sliced onions, strips of carrots, peppers, cabbage, etc. Also white parts of spring onion, sliced on a bias, if you have them on hand. Add ginger - garlic (fresh or paste is fine too). Saute for a couple of minutes. Add some shezuan sauce, a dash of soy sauce, turmeric, red chilli powder, coriander-cumin powder, some ketch up, a dash of tomato paste, chat masala, and salt. Also add spring onion green, chopped mint (this makes it pretty awesome), and some cilantro. Finally add long strips of paneer. Mix it till everything coats the paneer, and turn off the gas. For toaster sandwich: Apply some green chutney and tamarind chutney on bread, add the filling, sprinkle some chaat masala, and grate some sharp cheddar. Cover with another piece of bread, apply butter, an...

Celebrating the goodness of simple and wholesome ingredients brought by our farmers' harvests. After having this chikki, it's hard to go back to store bought (unless of course, we're in Lonavala). This video was super useful to get it right, but I made changes and some variations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epwGN-q45xY&t=501s I used chikki no gol (Bansi and Krutika brands). Once I used Mani brand kolhapuri gol. Was very soft to chop. 2 lbs yielded about 5 cups chopped gol, which was perfect for one full batch of all of these chikkis.  Dalia: The recipe called for 1 cup gud and 1 cup dalia, but I think it took almost 11/2 to 2 cups of dalia. Roll it with oiled rolling pin.  Once I used 3/4 cup gol and 11/2 cup dalia. Tal:  I used 1/2 cup gol and 1/2 cup polished tal for a super thin chikki.  Crushed Groundnuts: Slow roast skinless peanuts. Let cool, and coarsely grind in a mini food processor. Add cardamom. For 1 cup Gud, I think it took about 11/2 ...

It's my signature dish, and I can't believe I never wrote it down! It's my own recipe, and I must have made this a gajjillion times over the years. It's always a hit. Anyways, here it is: Pasta: Bring a large pot of water to boil with a good amount of salt. Boil 9 sheets of lasagna noodles, according to the pack instructions. Drain, wash with water and set aside. Red sauce layer: Boil pieces of green beans, carrots, and peas with a bit of salt, and drain. Saute quartered cremini mushrooms in a bit of butter, and add to the veggies. Add several table spoons of jarred tomato sauce, a pinch of oregano and a pinch of red chilli flakes. Ricotta layer: Mix about half a container ricotta, a big handful of grated parmesan, one small pack of grated Italian cheese, one egg, salt, black pepper, and some fresh, chopped parsley. White sauce later: Either saute several cups of chopped spinach, or thaw out one pack of frozen spinach, wring out the water, and saute in a bi...