Varada's Kitchen and Garden

Batatyachya kachrya is one of the most well known side dishes in Maharashtra. It is a simple potato recipe where the potato is cut in a thin large slices. You can either keep the potato slices soft or you can turn the heat up slightly so they turn crisp. I like the browned crispy version. This is my Mom's recipe and I realized I did not have a post for this. The pictures are not great as I had to click them on a rainy gloomy day. You will need 2 medium potatoes 1 tbsp oil 1 tsp. mustard seeds 1/4 tsp. asafoetida 1 tsp. turmeric powder 1 tsp. paprika 1 tsp. amchur powder 1/2 tsp. sugar salt to taste Wash and peel the potatoes. Cut the potatoes into two halves. Slice each half into thirds. Turn 90 degrees and slice into thin slices. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they crackle add the asafoetida and turmeric powder. Add the potatoes. Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes on medium heat. Uncover and add the remaining ingredients. Mix well and cover. Cook c

Whenever the holiday season rolls around I am reminded of sundal. Black channa sundal  is the version I had eaten as a child in my neighbor's house and also at the school cafeteria. I had no idea it could be made with black eyed peas until I read it on my fellow bloggers pages. I made a metal note to try the black eyed peas version someday and forgot all about it until today. We spent the weekend visiting my daughter at school and did not have time for grocery shopping. I needed something for Monday morning and it was too late to go to the grocery store. I saw these peas in the pantry and decided to try the sundal. They were perfect for a weekday lunch. I have to say I like the black channa version better but this was delicious. The family loved it too. We had with some fresh made poli/roti. I simply followed the recipe I used for the black channa sundal. You will need 1 cup dried black eyed peas 1/2 cup fresh desiccated coconut 3 dried red chili peppers 2 tbsp. musta

Today I bring you two recipes. Papa Rellena is a dish from Peru that is usually served with Salsa Criolla. I am always looking for something new to cook and the web is such a big resource for recipes from all over the world! I am lucky because where I live most ingredients are readily available. When I found this recipe, it sounded like something my family would love. There was potato and a lot of other ingredients that I thought would work well together. I was right, everyone loved it. I found the recipe on the blog Peru Delights . Check out their page, they have some delightful Peruvian recipes. The original recipe is not vegetarian. I used paneer to make it vegetarian. The original recipe also calls for the prepared balls of potato to be rolled in eggs and all purpose flour to be pan fried in oil. As nobody in my house eats dishes fried in oil I decided to use my trusty appe / aebleskiver pan. With a few drops of oil I was able to get a lovely golden crust around the potato. I

If you are like me, like fresh poli / roti everyday but do not always have the time to make them, this post is for you. Rolling out the flat bread is easy but time consuming. During the morning rush it is not always possible to find the time. For years I stuck to making poli fresh everyday. This is my post with details of how you do that. Then I started this process of freezing half cooked poli. Since then I switch back and forth between the two. You can make these over the weekend and freeze them. When needed during the week you can cook them as needed. This poli will taste pretty close to the one made fresh the same day. Pardon the pictures. I realized I did not click any after I had taken the poli off heat. I will update this post when I cook the next batch. Follow the process detailed here to make poli. But do not cook it all the way. After the first flip give it a few seconds and take it off heat. Let it cool completely and then place between sheets of parchment paper

Roasted red pepper is used a lot in some cuisines. Whenever I have tried recipes with roasted red pepper the family has loved it. That is when it struck me, why not try parathas with this delicious vegetable? I love to experiment with filling or additives for flatbreads. I make flatbreads everyday and the plain ones get monotonous. Besides these flavored parathas work well in packed lunches. For this paratha I used one red pepper and one tomato as the flavoring agent. As with everything else using red bell pepper we loved the flavor of the parathas. When I made them in the morning I was running a little late. The dough had not soaked through but I had no time to let it rest. So I made squares instead of rounds. And I left the dough for dinner as is. In the evening I made the rest of the parathas. By this time the dough had rested hours and the parathas were a lot easier to roll and the edges were smooth. If you have time, let the dough rest for half an hour or more. You will nee

I accidentally bought too many onions and needed to use them up. Onion is not part of our everyday cuisine so unless I need onions for something special they do not get much use. It occurred to me that parathas are made with almost every vegetables so onion paratha may be a real possibility. I did not know where to begin so I searched Vaishali's space and found this recipe for onion paratha . I mostly followed her recipe except I used white onion. These onions are sweet unlike its red counterpart. My daughter called them interesting which when translated means "Could you please not make them again. I will eat them without complaint this time." I personally think they tasted great and all the mix ins were very flavorful but they would taste a lot better with red onions instead of the white ones. You will need 2 cups whole wheat flour (chapati flour) 1 tsp. oil 1/2 large onion 1 bunch cilantro leaves 5-6 int leaves 1 tsp. red pepper powder salt to taste T

Grocery shopping is one of my chores every weekend. I like to plan my menu and get a week's worth of supplies. I find it hard to spare time to shop for groceries during the work week. Sometimes I miscalculate and at the end of the week I am left staring at an empty vegetable drawer. I try to compensate by soaking dry peas/beans but sometimes I forget. On one such Friday I realized that the only vegetables I had were potatoes and an onion. I had plenty of dried herbs so this was the result. These potatoes are usually eaten for breakfast but I cooked them for lunch. They tasted great with poli. You will need 4 small red potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes 1/4 small red onion, finely diced 1 tbsp. olive oil 1 tsp. basil 1 tsp. parsley 1 tsp. ginger salt and pepper to taste Heat the oil in a saute pan. Add the red onion and saute for a few minutes. Add the potatoes and let them brown. Add the remaining ingredients and saute for a few more minutes. Enjoy!

Roasted vegetables and steamed vegetables are popular side dishes on buffet tables. They go well with a variety of main dishes and taste great by themselves. I have a roasted vegetable recipe here  that I use to stuff sliders. For this recipe I wanted something that could be served on its own. I cut the vegetables into large pieces and roasted them until they were cooked but not mushy. They hold their shape well and seasoning with salt, pepper and a little oil. There is really no recipe for these vegetables. I used zucchini, red bell pepper and onion. You could add other vegetables of your choice. Cut the bell pepper and onions in thick strips. Cut the zucchini in thick circles along the length. Add salt, pepper and drizzle a little oil. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 F for 20-25 minutes. Turn the vegetables upside down and bake again for 15-20 minutes. The vegetables should be cooked through but not turn mushy and limp. Take them out of the oven and serve them while ho

I first made these caramelized potatoes last September. The flavors in this dish were very new to me. Sweet caramelized potatoes take getting used to. My daughter who loves potatoes finished everything. She has asked for it several times since I first made it. This is a very simple dish made with bite sized tiny potatoes. I got a bag of these potatoes from Whole Foods. Recipe source here You will need 20 tiny potatoes, any color 3 tbsp. sugar 2 tbsp. butter Boil the potatoes in salted water. Drain, peel and keep aside. Heat a pan and add the sugar. Watch closely to avoid burning the sugar. As soon as the sugar melts add the butter. The butter will bubble up so be careful. Add the potatoes. Mix well and serve warm.

As you probably read in my post yesterday my daughter is visiting for the weekend. She will return to college today afternoon. I keep asking her what she wants to eat as the dorm food is not great. The first time she visited she was full of demands. She missed the home cooked food so much! This time around she has gotten used to dorm life, a good thing, so does not have much on her wish list. There was some rice left over after dinner and she loved the idea of pudding for breakfast. So this morning I made her some creamy rice pudding and she enjoyed it very much. I do not buy white rice so any left over rice in the house is brown/wild/mixed etc. I made the rice pudding with leftover brown rice and she enjoyed it very much. Rice pudding is generally baked or made over the stove top. This is my microwave version. It helps if you know the power level in your microwave where the milk simmers but never comes to a boil. In my microwave it is P20. If you do not know the power level you