Misal Pav

I have always been a morning person but was never a breakfast one. After I moved to Mumbai for my first job, we had dedicated half an hour for breakfast before official start of the day.  Lunch served at office cafeteria used to be nearly horrible,  so would make sure to have breakfast (the same cafeteria served far better breakfast than lunch). This habit has still stayed with me. These days I don't know when and whether I would have lunch on time with two kids.

Anyway,  the company cafeteria usually served Misal Pav on Thursdays.  We have somewhat parallel dish called  Sev-Usal in Gujarati cuisine. But Misal is very spicy and served with raw/cold Pav. Lately I have been remembering  a lot about my Mumbai days and decided to give this dish a try.

Ideally,  it's made with Math/Matki but I used combination of both green moong and math. I didn't make it very spicy and served with whole  wheat bread. I like my bread toasted and smeared lightly with butter.  Also gravy requires tamarind juice but I stick to my healthier lemon juice.

Serves 2
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
For base,
3/4 cup green moong
1/2 cup math
2 medium potatoes
1 small onion
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp garlic paste
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
Pinch of hing
8-10 curry leaves
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
Lemon juice
Salt

For rassa/gravy
1/2 cup dried coconut chunks
1 medium onion
2 medium tomatoes
1 tsp + 1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
Pinch of hing
10-12 curry leaves
1/2 tsp green chili paste
1/2 tsp ginger paste
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
I/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp sugar
Lemon juice
Salt

To serve,
Pav/bread
Chopped onions
Chopped tomatoes
Farsan mix

Procedure
For base,
1. Soak moong and math for 8-10 hours and sprout them
2. Pressure cook with little water for five whistles
3. Boil potatoes and dice them
4. Finely chop the onion
5. Heat oil. Add cumin seeds. When crackles, add hing, curry leaves and garlic paste
6. Add onions and saute until they turn translucent
7. Add approx half a cup of water.when water comes to boil, add all spices except lemon juice
8. Let it simmer for 5 minutes and add sprouts and potatoes
9. Mix well. Turn off the heat and stir in lemon juice

For gravy,
1. Dry roast coconut chunks and keep them aside
2. Dice onions and tomatoes
3. Heat 1 tsp oil. Add chili-ginger paste and onions.  When they start turning brown,  add tomatoes
4. Keep stirring until tomatoes turn mushy. Let the mixture cool down and grind into a fine paste along with coconut
5. Heat remaining 1 tsp oil. Add mustard seeds,  hing and curry leaves
6. Add gravy and all the spices except sugar and lemon juice
7. Keep stirring until it starts leaving oil on the edge
8. Now add about 2-3 cup of water and bring it to boil
9. Add sugar, turn off the heat and add lemon juice

To serve,
1. Add sprouts base in the bowl and pour gravy
2. Add chopped onions and tomatoes
3. Top it with farsan
4. Serve immediately

Puran Poli

Puran Poli is our 'Family Favorite Dish'. Whenever it's my dad's birthday or parents' anniversary, I make this dish for sure. Having puran poli on such days makes me feel as if I am with them and we are celebrating together. And I am glad that HE also loves it as much as I do. I am little late in posting this, belated Happy B'day Dad!

Puran poli is ' A stuffed sweet roti' which is quite popular in West and South India, though I have tasted only Gujarati and Maharashtrian versions. Both of them use same ingredients but final dish is quite different. Maharashtrian one is thin and on drier side. While we Gujaratis have it thick, moist and applied with generous amount of ghee. Puran Poli with kadhi/ moong dal/ rice and cauliflower/okra curry is our all time favorite combination. The stuffing can be refrigerated for a week or so and rotis can be frozen for about a month or so. And the best part is, though it's a sweet dish, it's part of main course. So here is my sweet treat...

Makes 15-16 small rotis/polis

Preparation Time: 45 Minute + soaking time + cooling time

Cooking Time: 45 Minute

Ingredients

For stuffing,

1 cup toor dal (chana dal can also be used)

3/4 cup shredded jaggery **

1/4 cup sugar **

1/4 tsp cardamom powder

1/2 tsp poppy seeds

For dough,

2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp oil

Ghee to apply once they are ready

**  Only jaggery or only sugar can also be used. Total quantity should be equal to that of dal.

Procedure

1. Soak toor dal for 1-2 hours and pressure cook it with 1.25 cup of water
2. In a large thick bottom non-stick pan, mix cooked dal, jaggery and sugar
3. Start cooking this mixture uncovered on low flame and stir continuously
4. meanwhile in a separate bowl, sieve flour with oil and make roti like soft dough
5. Once dal mixture becomes thick and consistent, turn off the heat (If spatula can stand straight in this mixture without any support, it's considered done)
6. Sprinkle poppy seeds and cardamom powder
7. Once mixture is completely cooled down, divide dough into balls, stuff each ball with dal and gently roll a thick roti
8. Cook it on griddle on low flame without using oil/ghee on both sides until light brown
9. Apply ghee and serve hot

Sev Usal

If you are craving for something spicy and not in a mood to spend much time, you might want to make this dish. It’s spicy yet requires very less oil and if chutneys are prepared, this dish can be fixed in a jiff. Usal is originally from Maharashtra, but it's quite popular in over all West India. The fact I love the most about this dish is that it makes a complete meal by itself.

Serves 4-6

Preparation Time: 15 Minute + soaking time

Cooking Time: 20 Minute

Ingredients

To make usal,

3 cup dry peas (Fresh ones taste better, use 4.5 cup)

1 tsp oil

A bay leaf

½ tsp mustard seeds

½ tsp cumin seeds

8-10 curry leaves

½ cup chopped tomatoes

½ tsp turmeric powder

½ tsp red chili powder

½ tsp dhaniya powder

½ tsp garam masala

½ tsp ginger paste

1 tsp green chili paste

½ tsp pav bhaji masala

1 tbsp jaggery

2-3 dried whole mango piece/ 2 tsp aamchur

To serve usal,

1 cup potato, boiled and diced

½ cup diced tomatoes

1 cup finely chopped onions

Tamarind Chutney per taste

Garlic Chutney per taste

Green Chutney per taste

2 cup Sev

Procedure

1. Soak peas in warm water for 6-8 hours and pressure cook with salt. Make sure not to overcook them

2. Add jaggery and dried mango piece and bring it to boil on low flame

3. In a separate skillet, heat oil. Add bay leaf, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves and chopped tomatoes

4. Stir for a while, add chili-ginger paste and remaining spices, mix well

5. Once this mixture starts leaving oil on edges, add it to boiling peas

6. Add more salt and water if required and turn off the heat once all spices are nicely absorbed (About 5-10 minutes). Usal tends to get thick once you turn off the heat, hence add extra water while boiling

How to Serve

1. Pour hot usal in a bowl. Add all three chutneys, potato and tomato, mix well

2. Add chopped onions and sev, consume immediately before sev becomes soggy

Vada - Pav

I became Vada-Pav fan in my college days. College cafeteria served a delicious Vada-pav just for five bucks. They also had a royal version of it called Cheese Vada – Pav. Then a friend of mine introduced me to a few famous Vada-Pav joints in Ahemdabad. Later when I started working in Mumbai, it became a part of everyday food. Office cafeteria would serve it almost every Friday. I did not feel like having it in breakfast. But I did not have much of a choice and hence I would have only Vada. But they used to be so spicy that you cannot avoid bread!! Though Mumbai is an origin for Vada-Pav, I always love them better prepared in Gujarati way. In Maharashtra, they serve with plain pav and dry coconut garlic chutney. Hence it becomes very dry and I literally need juice/water to swallow it. While in Gujarat, they toast the pav with butter and serve with green chutney and garlic chutney.

So far I had always thought to use same vada as in Gujarati Alu vada. But it tasted very different than how vada-pav should be. Then I searched for an online recipe and here is my version and adapted to my taste.

Makes 20 Vada-Pavs

Preparation Time: 30 Minute

Cooking Time: 20 Minute

Ingredients

2 medium-large potatoes

20 pc pav **

1 tsp oil

½ tsp mustard seeds

8-10 curry leaves

½ tsp turmeric powder

Pinch of asafetida

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

¼ tsp garam masala

¼ tsp clove-cinnamon powder

½ tsp red chili powder

½ tsp green chili paste

¼ tsp ginger paste

Salt

For batter,

¼ cup besan

¼ tsp ajwain

Salt

Oil for frying

Butter/oil to toast the pav/bun

** Here we do not get fresh pav easily. So I use dinner rolls or hamburger buns. Even simple bread slice works just fine.

Procedure

1. Boil and mash potato, keep it aside

2. Heat oil in skillet. Add mustard seeds, asafetida, curry leaves, chili paste and turmeric powder. Stir it for a minute and pour this mixture to mashed potato

3. Add remaining spices to potatoes and mix well

4. Divide this mixture into small balls and keep them aside

5. Now in a separate bowl, mix besan, salt and ajwain. Add water and make a thick batter without any lumps

6. Heat oil in a frying pan. Dip each ball in besan batter and deep fry them on low-medium flame until light brown

How to serve,

1. Heat butter on griddle, when melted add garlic chutney (Add grated coconut to this chutey).

2. Toast bun in this mixture

3. Apply green chutney, put vada and cover the bun