Chronicles Of The Sassy Fork

This time Diwali in Mumbai is full of colour and lights and yes,noise and a joyous spirit.As always, lots of Diwali snacks or "faraal" are made at home and now also bought from stores (such as Godbole's) by pre-ordering.With most of the younger generation being abroad,there's a long line of elderly parents at these shops to send these goodies to their children.With the foodstuff, their children also receive "utna" which is used for the early morning bath on Diwali day.Most of the snacks used to be fried but with the health conscious generation,some of it is now baked...be it the diamond shaped Shankarpala or the circular Chakli. After all the indulgences,we decided to have a light European meal at The Tasting Room at Lower Parel.We started with the Watermelon and Feta Salad which had rectangular slices of juicy watermelon with soft Feta drizzled on top and served with distinctive rocket leaves.It was a great start and was ordered by many people there.What su...

On the day after Ganesh Chaturthi,women do the Rishi Panchami Puja for the Seven Sages and a special bhaaji called Rishi Panchami Bhaaji is made.This made of bitters and meant to cleanse the body ,while the Puja done to show respect to the ancient sages, cleanses the soul. The sages ate very simple food and that is the basis of this bhaaji.On that day food is to be eaten once in the day as did the sages.They used to eat leafy vegetables cooked in a simple broth.Here we add Ambat Chuka,Maat,Chauli (leafy greens),radish,corn,drumstick,red pumpkin and bitter gourd to coconut milk and tamarind and simmer it.That is Rishi Panchami Bhaaji for you. Sudha Aunty tells me the vegetables are grown and plucked by hand just like the sages did.

It's that time of the year when people bring home idols of Lord Ganesha/Ganpati Bappa.A period of renewed hope and happiness.As always we had the lunch we have every year...ordered from Ketkar Bandhu at Dadar.The most important item being Ganpati Bappa's favorite sweet...Modak.This is either stuffed (and then steamed or fried) or made of mava and available in sweetmeat shops.We always have the Ukadiche Modak or steamed ones stuffed with grated coconut and jaggery.There you go...we have our version of dumplings.....all you sui mai,dimsum and momo fans.My grandmom used to fill modaks with one rupee coins when my dad was a kid (when he was old enough not to swallow then). The other items included Steamed Kothambir Chi Vadi which was savoury with gram flour and coriander as the main ingredients.This is soft in texture. Batatyachi Bhaaji....the simple typical Maharashtrian vegetable dry dish with mustard seeds,curry leaves and turmeric Masale Bhaat that is spiced rice ...

When you get home from work,you feel like having a quick snack.This is one option made with ingredients usually found at home :) BREAD UPMA 6 slices bread cut into squares and sprinkled with water 1 onion chopped 1 tomato chopped Kadipatta or curry leaves 1 stalk 2 green chillies split 1 tsp mustard seeds pinch of hing or asafoetida 1/2 tsp turmeric 1/2 tsp red chilly powder Oil Salt Heat oil and add mustard seeds,chillies,hing,kadipatta and turmeric and stir. Add onion and saute till transparent. Add tomato and saute till pulpy Then add salt and red chilly powder. Finally add the bread pieces and cook on a slow flame till crisp and coated with the masala Instead of bread,you can use leftover rice or chappatis

Yes,I am talking about the Cauliflower,a vegetable that we cook often.We see two varieties in our markets...the usual one and the "gavti" variety.The first is white and the latter yellowish white.Gavti means that which is grown wild or naturally.I tried making the same dish using both and that the gavti one turned out more flavourful.Abroad one sees other colours like orange,purple and green.There are many Indians dishes using cauliflower cush as Gobi Paratha,Cauliflower Korma and Gobi Masala. I will talk of a recipe that is made in homes and not found in recipe books.Simple but tasty. As I have mentioned before, the tadka is the determining factor of how the dish will taste.Cooking it for too short a time will cause the dish to have less flavour whereas overcooking will give a burned taste.The commonest tadka or phodni used in Maharashtrian cooking is mori,halad,hing or a combination of mustard seeds,turmeric and asafoetida.Hing comes from the mountains of Kashmir and I...

A Maharashtrian meal typically has a vegetable preparation and a sprouts or legume preparation (called usal).One of my favourites if the Vatanyachi Usal or Green Peas Usal. The key to this dish is to get fresh tender peas.Choose those which are green and bright and cook them at the earliest else they catch fungus even in the fridge. Recipe: 1/2 kg green peas (shelled and boiled with salt---for approx 10mins) 1 tsp Goda masala 1 sprig kadipatta/curry leaves 2 green chillies (split in the middle) 1 tsp mustard seeds pinch of asafoetida(hing) groundnut oil jaggery few scrapings few sprigs coriander juice of half a lemon grated coconut for garnish salt to taste pinch turmeric First heat the oil and add the mustard seeds and allow them to pop.Then add asafoetida and green chillies and curry leaves and stir well....this is the Phodni or Tadka and is the most important part of any dish as it sets the flavour. Then add the peas,goda masala,turmeric,salt and saute for few mins.Then add jagger...

My neighbours are from Kutch.Wonderful people...the Kenias.Surprise us now and again with delicious food made at home.Today Jayendra aunty sent a typical Kutchi meal.Kutch lies in Gujarat,which I am sure you know having heard about the Rann of Kutch from where flamingoes migrate to Mumbai and Bhuj,the main city which had a devastating earthquake in the early 90s but has since been built again.Kutchi has its own dialect and food.My first experience with Kutchi food was when my friend Priya Kapadia's mother gave me steamed muthiyas. Kutchi food is vegetarian.The first dabba had mugri which is from the radish family but looked like chopped french beans,lightly tossed in spices.This was served with large stuffed chillies,which don't have much heat in this season. The Kutchis have rotlas which are high in fibre as they are made with bajra or nachni (millet) Some even have rice flour bhakris and this reminded me of the ones I had seen in the Konkan.Gujaratis have whole wheat chappati...