Around The World On Your Plate

Ingredients: 1 cup chana dal (split chickpeas)  soaked for 4-5 hours and drained 3-4 green chillies minced 1 teaspoon grated ginger 2 sprigs cilantro  1 sprig of curry leaves 1/2 cup freshly grated coconut A pinch of asafoetida 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder Salt to taste Oil for deep frying Method : Grid together all the above ingredients in a mixer grinder or food processor without adding any water. Take a tablespoon full of mixture and make round patty and set aside in a plate. Heat oil in a pan on medium heat, once the oil it hot enough, add one patty at a time and fry till crisp and golden on both sides. Serve hot.

Ingredients: 1 to 1/4 cup beaten Rice 1/2 medium sized cucumber 2 green Chillies finely chopped 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon mustard seeds 1 teaspoon urad dal 1 sprig of curry leaves A pinch of asafetida salt to taste. Method: Wash beaten rice well and drain and set aside. Grate half of a cucumber in a big bowl, to this add in the beaten rice.  Make sure this mixture is not too wet or too dry.  Set this aside for a few minutes for the beaten rice to get nicely soaked up in the cucumber juice. In a pan, heat 1 teaspoon of oil, add the mustard seeds.  Once the mustard seeds start to splutter, add in the asafetida, turmeric powder, curry leaves, green chillies and saute for a minute, now add in the urad dal and saute for a minute.  Turn off the heat and add this to the soaked beaten rice.  Add salt and lemon juice to taste and mix well.  Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with papad.  Tips: You ca...

Ingredients: 1 cup beaten rice 3/4 cup grated jaggery 2 cups grated coconut 4 cups water 4-5 cardamom Wash and drain the beaten rice and set aside for 15 minutes. Grind coconut and extract juice twice adding a little water at a time. Cook beaten rice in 4 cups of water for 2-3 minutes,  Add in the jaggery and cook for a minute. Now add the coconut milk and cardamom powder and cook for 5 minutes on a low flame. Turn off the heat, garnish with some freshly grated coconut and serve hot. Tips: If freshly grated coconut is not available, you can use coconut powder or caned coconut milk. In case of canned coconut milk, use only 2 cups of water and later add in the coconut milk. In case of coconut powder, follow the same as the actual recipe and add 3 tablespoons of powder to 1 cup of hot water and add it to the beaten rice.

Ingredients: 1 cup beaten rice 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup condensed milk. 1 liter milk 4-5 cardamom Method: Wash and drain the beaten rice and set aside for 15 minutes. On a medium flame, cook beaten rice in milk for a minute, add sugar, condensed milk and cardamom and stir continuously.  Cook on low flame until it thickens, approximately 6-8 minutes.  Serve either hot or chilled.

Poha or Fov or beaten rice is a dehusked rice which is flattened into flat light dry flakes.  There are different types of poha recipes that is prepared during Diwali in Goa. Here is what we prepared this year as an offering to Lord Krishna. Happy Diwali. This thali or platter consists of 4 different types of poha: 1.  Batata poha (made with potato). 2.  Dudh poha (made with milk). 3.  Kakadi poha (made with cucumber. 4.   Rosatle poha (made with coconut milk).

Onion rice: Ingredients: 1 cup cooked long grain rice. 1 sprig of curry leaves. Green chillies to taste. 1 tsp mustard seeds. 1 tsp urad dal 2 tablespoon vegetable oil or cannola oil 1 tsp turmeric powder Sat to taste. Cilantro to garnish. Method: Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, once it starts to splutter, add urad dal and green chillies and fry them till golden in color. Add curry leaves and turmeric powder and give it a nice stir.  Turn the heat to low and add in the rice and salt and mix well.  Turn off the heat and garnish it with cilantro.  Serve hot.