Bhenyachi Bhaaji / Okra cooked in Goan style.

Okra/bhindi is called as bhenyae in Goan konkani. I love okra a lot in any form so it always makes an appearance in my kitchen at least once every 15 days. And fortunately my husband and both kids love it too. They specially like it cooked in this simple manner.
Bhenyachi bhaaji is a very simple dish prepared with the Goan trinity of "onion, coconut and green chilly" and of course the okra itself. The flavouring imparted to the vegetable comes from the humble onion and coconut with a touch of spice from the green chilly and a tangy punch from the kokum.
Again, this is a fat free recipe as there is no use of any oil. My Mom used oil sparingly in her cooking.
This is one of the many ways my Mom prepared okra.
Also this is the way bhenyaae /okra is prepared in most households in Goa.


Ingredients.
3 cups chopped okra/bhindi/bhenyae,
1 medium onion, chopped,
2 green chillies, slit,
2 tbsp grated coconut,
8 pieces of kokum/sola,
salt to taste,
pinch of sugar.


Method.

• Put all the ingredients in a pan along with a few tsps of water and cook on medium to medium low heat with lid half covered till the okra is cooked.(covering the pan completely makes the okra slimly)
• Stir the ingredients in the pan not with a spoon but just shake the pan and toss the ingredients inside the pan, that way the cooked okras will not break.

Note
Adding kokum stops the okra from getting slimy when cooked.
Also the kokum adds a unique tangy flavour to the okra.
You can add tomato if you do not have kokum but the flavour will be slightly different.

Baked Cheese Crackers

Cheese crackers are an all time favorite not only with kids but grown ups too.

I make these very often for my kids as these crackers are very cheesy and crispy with a melt-in-your-mouth texture. You cannot stop with popping just one in your mouth.......they are very addictive.

Ingredients

1 and 3/4 cup all purpose flour,

1/2 cup butter, room temperature,

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese,

1/2 tsp salt,

1 tsp sugar,

1 tsp paprika,

1 tsp baking powder,

few sprinkles of water to make dough.

Method.

• Put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and make a soft dough. Chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 325 F and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
• Roll the dough to 1/2 cm thickness and then score to get shapes or can use spritz cookie press to get the rippled effect crackers or can use the star plate of the chakli maker to get star shaped crackers.
• Put on the tray and bake for 20-25 minutes, do not allow to burn.
• The crackers will just turn mildly golden brown.
• Cool and store in an air-tight container.

Note.

Add any chopped herbs or any other spices like cumin seeds or black pepper to make fancy grown up version.

These crackers do not expand when baked so when arranging them on the tray no need of spacing them.

Doodhi Bhaaji / Pumkin Stir Fry.

Pumpkin takes the top spot on my list of favorite vegetables, I like it in any form, any day. This is one of the ways Ma prepared doodhi bhaaji, in its most simplest form with the 'Goan Trinity' of onion, green chilly and coconut. Goan tirphal also called sichuan pepper is used for this dish and this pepper gives the humble pumpkin a unique flavor, kicks it up a notch and takes it to a totally different level.

Ingredients.

4 cups chopped pumpkin(yellow or butternut),

1/2 onion, chopped,

1-2 green chillies chopped,

3 tbsp grated coconut,

10 tirphal pieces/sichuan pepper (optional),

salt to taste,

few tsp of water.

Method.

• Wash and rinse the tirphal, discard the black seed inside it, it is not edible.
• Crush the the pepper slightly but do not powder it.
• Mix all ingredients in a pan, cover and cook on low flame till the pumpkin is tender.
  

Note.

Discard the tirphal when serving the vegetable, the pepper is not edible.

As with most of the other vegetable dishes, Ma never used oil to cook this dish too.

The tirphal imparts a distinct flavor to the humble pumpkin.

Dangar / Seafood(clams/oysters/shrimp) Cutlets

Last few weeks have been very hectic as we were busy packing and moving from west coast to east coast of Canada to a new city. Just settling down in our new home here in Toronto.

Today I am posting a recipe for seafood cutlets called as Dangar in konkani.
Dangar is nothing but a simple seafood cutlet mainly using shell fish like clams(tisryo/khube) or oysters(kaalva) or shrimp.

I make these oyster dangar quite often specially when I have guests over for dinner.
I get huuuuuuuuuge oysters(palm size) here in Canada or I just chop them into small pieces and then use them.

Ingredients
1 cup chopped oysters,
1/2 onion chopped fine,
1 medium sized tomato , chopped fine,
1-2 green chillies, chopped fine,
6-7 tbsp chickpea flour/besan
4 tbsp rava,
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves,
2 tbsp grated coconut,
salt to taste,
1/2 tsp turmeric powder/haldi powder,
1/2 tsp garam masala.
oil for shallow frying.


Method.

• Mix all the ingredients except the oil.


• Heat a skillet on medium high heat and drizzle a tea spoon of oil, not too much.


• Pour 2 tbsp of batter and spread slightly to make a small pancake like round shape.


• Fill the skillet with these cutlets (according to how many you can fit on the pan).


• Drizzle a couple of teas spoons of oil around the cutlets.


• After 4 minutes use a spatula to flip the cutlet on the other side.


• Cook for 2 minutes, then take off heat.


• Dangar ready to be dunked in ketchup or to accompany a typical Goan meal of rice, dal/fish curry.

Note.

Adjust the besan and rava to get the desired consistency. Omit rava for a gluten free version.

Add more green chillies for a fiery version.

Once the ingredients are mixed together, prepare and fry the cutlets immediately or else the whole mixture turns into a pulp as the tomatoes and onions release water.

Besan Badam Ladoo / Chickpea Flour Almond Sweetballs.

We Indians prepare an array of sweets and circular ladoos make it to the top list. There are soooooooo many varieties of ladoos one can prepare. The basic method of preparation is pretty simple -- heat ghee-roast flour(any)-take off heat-add sugar/cardamom powder/chopped nuts-mix-cool slightly and then rolls into 1-2 inch diameter balls..........voila, ladoos all ready to be devoured.
Besan Ladoo is a favorite in my house, my hubby n kids love it but I cannot say the same for myself though. I am more of a rava coconut, motichoor, wheatflour ladoos kind of a person, I prefer these ladoos over besan ones any day :-)
But I do make besan ladoos very often to satisfy my family's love for these yellow golden sweet morsels.
My kids are very fussy when it comes to eating nuts in ladoos, so to get them to eat the healthy nuts I thought why not disguise the nut in a powder form and add to the ladoo.
The verdict is..........my kids ate the ladoos without a fuss or complain about nuts and the almond powder did not overpower the besan flavor of the final product.

Ingredients
2 cups besan/chickpea flour,
1/2 cup ghee,
1 and 3/4 cup fine sugar(adjust sugar according to taste),
1/2 cup ground almond/badam powder,
1 tsp cardamom powder/elaichi powder,
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg/jaiphal powder,
pinch cinnamon powder/tikhi powder.


Method.

• Heat ghee in a pan and roast besan on low flame till the raw smell disappears and nice aroma starts developing to the besan, about 25-30 minutes.
• Add the ground almonds during the last 10 minutes and let the whole mixture roast well for 10 minutes.
• Keep stirring during the whole process or else the mixture will burn. (The color of the besan should be a dark yellow and now brown)
• Switch the heat off and add fine sugar, cardamom powder, grated nutmeg and cinnamon powder.
• Mix well and keep aside for about 8-10 minutes.
• When cool enough to handle with bare hands take 2 tbsp of the mixture at a time and press and squeeze and roll into 2 inch diameter balls.
• The above quantity yielded 30 ladoos(medium sized).

Note.

Add some chopped nuts and raisins if desired. I did not add any nuts as I added ground almonds to the mixture.

Can grind the sugar to fine powder and then add to the ladoo mixture, I prefer a crunch to the ladoo so I added fine sugar that we get here, (the texture of the sugar is like chiroti rava).

Adjust the sugar according to your taste. I added slightly less sugar as I do not like ladoos too overly sweet. But the usual formula says equal parts flour and sugar.