Narali Bhaat / Coconut Rice for Narali Pornima

Narali purnima or the full moon during the month of Shraavan. The day when coastal Maharashtra breaks a coconut at the beach to pray for a good post monsoon fishing season. The menu for the day includes the dessert Narali bhaat or coconut rice. Fresh coconut is combined with the local staple - rice, to make this delicious dish.

The menu includes, from the top clockwise, a bowl of tomato dal, potato bhaji, bharli wangi, poli, cucumber koshimbir and in the center narali bhaat.

The recipes for tomato dal and cucumber koshimbir will be updated in the next week.

For narali bhaat you will need
1 cup brown rice
1 cup shredded fresh or frozen coconut
1 scant cup jaggery or sugar
1 clove
1 tbsp. ghee or clarified butter

For garnish
1 tbsp. ghee
a few each of cashews, almonds sliver, raisins etc.
1 pod cardamom

Thaw the coconut if using frozen. Grate the jaggery. Soak the rice for half an hour. Drain and rinse.

Melt ghee in a pan and add the clove. When fragrant in about 1-2 minutes, add the rice with 2 cups of water. Bring it to a boil, lower heat, cover and cook. When the rice is almost cooked, about 20-35 minutes, add the coconut and jaggery. Mix carefully without breaking the rice grain. Let it cook another 5 minutes. During this time the jaggery will melt and coat the rice as it thickens.

Shell the cardamom and pound the seeds to a powder. Heat ghee in a separate pan and roast the cashews, almond slivers and raisins.

When the rice is done turn off heat. Sprinkle the cardamom and garnish ingredients.

Enjoy!

This is my entry for week 32 of the 2014 52 week challenge for the theme favorites.

Shrikhand

I am posting the recipe for Shrikhand on the occasion of Gudi Padva. To make a complete meal for this occasion refer to the Maharashtrian Thali page.

Shrikhand is a very popular dessert and is made on several different holidays like Gudi Padva and Dasara. It can also be made as an evening snack or a dessert to complete any meal.

To make Shrikhand you will need
1 tub nonfat yogurt
1/2 cup sugar
5-6 strands saffron
1 tbsp. warm milk
3-4 pods cardamom
1 pinch grated nutmeg

Invert the yogurt in a fine mesh muslin cloth and tie the ends. Let it hang over the kitchen sink overnight to let the water drain away.

Soak the saffron in the warm milk and keep aside. Untie the cloth and transfer the contents to a mixing bowl.

Mix in the sugar and refrigerate for at least an hour. Shell and pound the cardamom seeds. Add the cardamom powder and nutmeg to the yogurt. Blend together using a hand blender. Fold in the saffron milk and refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving.

Enjoy the creamy shrikhand.

Puran Poli

Today is Holi the festival of colors. It is a celebration of spring and new life. It is also a symbolic gesture to burn away everything old and start over.

Dry color pouches or water guns are used to spray color on friends and family. Growing up everyone from our neighborhood celebrated holi. There was an advantage in going out early. As children came out to play the gang grew bigger. Everyone was in light colored clothing and by the end of the morning the clothes would be stained with all the different colors. People were hard to recognize as the faces were colored. At the end of the morning we would all return home to take a shower and wash off all the color. Though most of the color washed off some telltale sign would remain and that would be a conversation starter in school the next day.

In Marathi homes puran poli is made specially on holi. It is eaten either with ghee (clarified butter) or with milk. Puran is a mixture of cooked channa dal and jaggery. Katachi amti is a dish prepared from the water in which the channa dal is cooked. Puran poli and katachi amti is a classic combination. I served the puran poli with beetroot salad, instant jaggery and mustard pickle and bharli wangi (stuffed eggplant).

You will need
For the puran
1/2 cup channa dal
1/2 cup jaggery
1/4 cup sugar
2 pods cardamom
nutmeg

For the poli
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp. all purpose flour
2 tbsp. olive oil, divided
1 tsp. salt

To make the puran
Wash and pressure cook the channa dal in 1 1/2 cups of water. Do not let it get mushy. Strain and reserve the water.

Mash the channa dal and put it in a pan. Add the jaggery and sugar. Set it on medium heat to cook. Initially the sugar and jaggery will dissolve cause the mixture to form a watery paste.

As it cooks it will thicken. When a spoon left in the center of the mixture stands for a few seconds on its own you know the puran is done. At this time the color will be a light brown if you used light colored jaggery. Take it off the heat. Shell the cardamom and pound the seeds to a powder. Add the powder to the puran. Using the rough side of your box grater grate some nutmeg in the puran. Mix it and let it cool completely.

To make the poli
In a mixing bowl sift in the flour and salt. Rub in the olive oil. Using water form a dough and knead well. Pour a tablespoon of oil on your palm and knead the dough until it is soft and smooth. Cover and keep aside for 2 hours.

After 2 hours use a little olive oil to knead the dough again.  Divide the dough into five portions. Heat a griddle pan. Flatten one portion of the dough in the palm of your hand. Place a fifth of the puran in it.

Close the dough over the top of the filling to form a ball.

Roll it out on a working surface to form a thin disc.

Put a few drops of oil on the heated pan and place the rolled poli on it. Sprinkle some oil over the top. Let the poli cook and when browns spots appear flip it over. Cook the other side and take it off the heat.

Repeat with the remaining portions of dough.

Enjoy!

Gulpoli (Jaggery paratha)

Gulpoli is a special poli (flatbread) made on Makar Sankrant, the harvest festival. In coastal Maharashtra Jaggery based dishes are primary made in winter and gulpoli is one of the more popular dishes. As the jaggery filling begins to cool the gulpoli turns crispy. Gulpoli is one of my favorite sweet breads.

I made these before my daughter headed to college. I made just eight gulpoli as it was part of a full meal. The dough for this recipe is mixed with hot oil and is super soft. That makes it easy to roll with the filling. If the jaggery seeps out little it is okay. Caramelized jaggery tastes pretty good.

When I first posted this recipe I had made a Maharastrian thali. I did not have very good pictures when I first posted this recipe. On the 25th of January I have updated the pictures.

You will need (for 8)

For the dough

2 cups wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

7 tbsp. olive oil

For the filling

1 cup jaggery

1/4 cup besan

2 tbsp. olive oil

2 tbsp. polished sesame seeds

2-3 pods cardamon

Heat the olive oil. Put the flours in a mixing bowl and work the hot oil in. Knead the dough using water. Keep aside for a couple of hours. Knead again and divide into lemon sized balls. 

Dry roast the sesame seeds until they turn pinkish. Let cool and using a blender dry grind to a coarse powder. Shell the cardamom and pound to a powder. Cook the besan well in the oil. Combine in a mixing bowl with all the other ingredients for the filling. Keep aside.

Flatten one ball of dough in the palm of your hands.

Place filling in the flattened dough. Bring the edges together and and close at the top. 

On a working surface roll out a thin poli taking care to see the filling stays inside. 

Cook on a flat griddle pan. Put a few drops of oil while the poli is cooking. Serve hot.

Enjoy!

Tilgul for Sankrant (Sesame seeds and Peanut wadi)

Today is Sankrant. It is the day the sun begins its journey from the southernmost point as seen from the earth towards the north. It is celebrated on the 14th of January every year. Sankrant is the rare Hindu festival that is celebrated by the Solar calendar.

My earliest memories of Sankrant, is memory of tilgul. The smell of roasted sesame seeds and peanut with cardamom. In Goa, it is also a memory of a big event on the social calendar. Women dressed up in fine sarees visiting their neighbors to exchange tilgul and other sweets. It is a memory of happy times.

This is my grandmother's recipe. The resulting tilgul is melt in your mouth soft and smells really good. I have never enjoyed the jaw breakers that are made in the name of tilgul. My mother, and my grandmother before her, used jaggery. I use white polished sesame seeds. You could use the unpolished brown sesame seeds too.

You will need
2 cups sesame seeds, roasted and ground coarsely
1 cup peanuts, roasted and ground coarsely
1 cup packed jaggery
1 tbsp. ghee (clarified butter)
2 tbsp. water
6 cardamon pods

Prepare a baking sheet with edges or similar flat surface by rubbing it with a little ghee. Keep aside. Shell the cardamom pods and pound the seeds. Keep aside.
Heat the jaggery, ghee and water in a pan until the sugar melts. Let it come to a boil. As soon as it starts to bubble turn off the heat. Add the powdered sesame seeds, peanuts and cardamom. Mix well. Transfer it to the baking sheet. Using the moistened bottom of a glass pat down the mixture in a level 1 to 2 inch thick layer. Cut it into 2 inch squares and let them rest for 15-20 minutes. Using a spatula remove the squares and store in a air tight container. The tilgul last for 2-3 weeks.